OXEN. 2o5 



distinctly triangular section. They taper gradually from root to tip, and generally 



curve regularly upwards, outwards, and a little backwards from the line of the face 



in nearly a single plane ; the tips bending inwards and slightly forwards. This is 



the type represented in our illustration ; but in a variety, which is mainly or 



entirely from Assam, the horns are directed straight outwards for the greater part 



of their length, and then suddenly curve upwards. In the cow the horns are 



considerably longer and thinner, with a much less marked angulation in front, than 



in the bulls ; and it is in this sex, so far as our experience goes, that the horns with 



the straightest direction outwards are met with. The body becomes almost bare 



in old animals, and the general colour is ashy-black, although the legs may be 



whitish, or even, in domestic races, quite white below the knees and hocks. There 



is, however, a dun-coloured variety of this species, described by Mr. Blanford from 



upper Assam, in which the forehead is more convex than ordinary, and the nasal 



bones of the skull are much shorter. 



According to General Kinloch, it is doubtful if the bull of this species ever 



exceeds 5 feet 4 inches (16 hands) at the withers; and in one specimen, of which 



he gives the dimensions, the height was 5 feet, the length from the nose to the root 



of the tail 9 feet 7 inches, that of the tail 3 feet 11 inches, and the girth 8 feet 



3 inches. In the same specimen the length of the horns, measured from tip to tip 



along the greater curve, was 8 feet 3 inches. A skull in the British Museum has 



horns measuring 12 feet 2 inches from tip to tip along the curve ; while a detached 



horn in the same collection has a length of 6 feet 6h inches, which indicates a 



span of about 14 feet from tip to tip in the pair. 



In a truly wild state the Indian buffalo is only known definitely 

 Distribution. . „ ,...,. 



iii the country from which it takes its name, the herds which are 



found in a wild state in Burma and the Malay Peninsula and adjacent islands, 



being not improbably descended from animals escaped from captivity. Our 



illustration is taken from an individual of one of these feral races in Java, where 



they are known by the name of karbu. 



In India wild buffaloes are found on the plains of the Bramaputra and Ganges, 



from the eastern end of Assam to Tirhut ; they also occur in the " terai " land at 



the foot of the Himalaya, as far as Rohilcund, as well as on the plains near the 



coast in Midnapur and Orissa, and in the eastern portions of the Central 



Provinces, as well as in the north of Ceylon. Domesticated buffaloes are found 



not only over the whole of India and Burma, and the greater part of the Malayan 



region, but have likewise been introduced into Asia Minor, Egypt, and Italy. 



The haunts of the wild Indian buffalo are the tall grass-jungles 

 Habits. . . & J . & 



found m many parts of the plains of India, and generally in the 



neighbourhood of swamps; but it maybe also found more rarely in the open plains 

 of short grass, or among low jungle, and occasionally even in forest. Those who 

 have never had the opportunity of seeing an Indian grass-jungle can have but 

 little conception of its height and density, but some idea may be formed of it from 

 the following statement of General Kinloch, who writes that in such cover " fre- 

 quently, although a herd of buffaloes may be roused within a score of yards, the 

 waving of the grass, and perhaps the glint of a polished horn-tip, is the only 

 ocular evidence of the presence of the animals ; the probably nearly noiseless rush 



