External Characters of Ruminant Art'io dactyl a. 457 



of a short urethral process. The statement, however, must 

 be accepted in preference to the figure. 



Genus Syncerus, Hodgson. 



Syncerus, Hodgson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi. pt. 2, p. 709 (1847) : 



type, brachj/ceros, (irnv. 

 Planiceroa, Gray, Cat. Hum. Brit. Mas. p. 10 (1872), as subgenus of 



Buhalus: type, planiceros, Blytli (= centralis, Gray). 

 Synceros, id. op. cit. p. 12, Jas subgenus of Buhalus : type, coffer, 



Spar in. 



Apai't from the shape of the head, horns, and the size of 

 the ears, I am not acquainted with any important external 

 characters by which the African buffaloes may be distin- 

 guished from their Asiatic allies. My examination, how- 

 ever, is restricted to one example — a young bull — of S. coffer 

 cequinoctialis ? In this specimen the penis was thinner than 

 in other JBovines, and there was no trace of a tubular pro- 

 longation of the urethral canal free from the terminal 

 thickening of the glans (fig. 4, A). A side view of the large 

 rhinarium is shown in fig. 2, C. 



Riitimeyer Ions; ago pointed out some of the cranial 

 differences between the African and Asiatic buffaloes, and, 

 admitting them as distinct genera, adopted the name Bu- 

 halus for tiie former and introduced Buffelus for the latter. 

 For no very good reasons, apparently, he severed the anoa 

 {A. depressicornis) from the Asiatic forms and proposed 

 Probubalus for its reception. 



In 1901 Lonnberg (K. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Ilandl. xxxv. 

 no. 3) adopted Riitimeyer's opinion as to the generic status 

 of the two types of buffalo, and backed it by the addition of 

 other cranial features. At the same time he showed that 

 the anoa falls into line with the big buffaloes of India, the 

 link between the two being supplied by mindorensis. He 

 followed Riitimeyer also in the matter of nomenclature, 

 with the exception that Probubalus lapsed as a synonym of 

 Buffelus. Nevertheless, in 1903 (N. Acta Soc. Upsal. (3) 

 xx. pp. 55-61) Lonnberg writes on the soft anatomy of 

 Anoa as if it were a genus apart from other Asiatic buffaloes. 

 The reason for this course is not clear. 



In 1911 Hollister (P. Biol. Soc. Wash. xxiv. p. 191) 

 adopted the views of Riitimeyer and Lonnberg regarding the 

 buffaloes of Afiicaand India, without, however, being aware, 

 so far as can be judged, of their publications upon this 

 subject. Not possessing a skull of depressicornis for exami- 

 nation, he left Anoa alone, adopting the name Bubalus for 



