Game Animals of India, etc. 



From its distant cousin the African buffalo, the 

 Indian, or, as it might perhaps be better termed, the 

 Asiatic buffalo is distinguished by the form of the 

 horns and the wide space by which these are separated 

 at their bases from one another on the forehead in both 

 sexes, as well as by the much greater length of the 

 head, and the narrower and less densely haired ears. 

 The profile of the head is nearly straight, and the 

 convexity of the forehead moderate. The horns, of 

 which male and female specimens are shown in the 

 plate, are entirely black in colour, and curve almost in 

 the same plane ; those of bulls are much more massive 

 than those of cows. As regards curvature, two distinct 

 and well-marked types are recognisable. In the one, 

 the horns curve regularly upwards from each side of 

 the head in a semicircular manner, so as to be separated 

 by a comparatively small interval at the tips (plate ii, 

 fig. 5). In the other type (of which the pair represented 

 in fig. 5^ of the plate is a medium example) they 

 spread almost directly outwards for the greater portion 

 of their length, after which they curve somewhat 

 upwards and inwards, the interval between their tips 

 being consequently much greater than in the first type. 

 Specimens belonging to the two sexes of each type 

 are now exhibited in the British (Natural History) 

 Museum. 



The circular form of horn may be regarded as the 

 typical race of the species (Bos buhalis typicus) ; while 

 the straight type was distinguished by Brian Hodgson in 

 the first half of last century as a distinct race or variety, 

 under the name of Bos buhalis macroceros. Whether 

 these two types constitute subspecies, or local races, in 

 the modern acceptation of that term, or whether they 

 are rather to be looked upon in the light of phases, is 

 not at present evident ; but in any case it is convenient 

 to retain distinct names for them. The largest horns 

 known are a detached pair in the British Museum, 

 given to Sir Hans Sloane (whose collection formed the 



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