170 THE OX TRIBE. 



THE INDEFINITE DEFINITIONS OF 

 COL. HAMILTON SMITH. 



On commencing this Monograph of the Genus Bos, I 

 entertained the confident expectation, that in the volumi- 

 nous work of Cuvier^s ' Animal Kingdom/ translated and 

 enlarged by Griffith and others, I should find all that 

 related to generic and specific distinction so clearly 

 exhibited, and so systematically arranged, that I should 

 have no hesitation in adopting the classification there set 

 forth, and no difficulty in determining the place of any 

 new species or variety. With this expectation I diligently 

 studied that portion of Col. H. Smith's volume on the 

 Ruminantia, which treat of the Genus Bos, and I here 

 subjoin (verbatim) the generic and subgeneric characters 

 there given of that Genus, by which it will be seen how 

 far they fall short of the clearness and precision which are 

 indispensable to a scientific work. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



" Genus BOS. Skull very strong, dense about the 

 frontals, which are convex, nearly flat, or concave ; horns 

 invariably occupying the crest, projecting at first laterally ; 

 osseous nucleus throughout porous, even cellular ; muzzle 

 invariably broad, naked, moist, black ; ears, in general, 

 middle sized ; body long ; legs solid ; stature large." 



Generic characters should be such as will apply to every 

 species in the genus ; they should likewise be such as will 



