THE CAPE BUFFALO 787 



Subfossil remains of the American bison are found in various parts of 

 North America, while in Texas there occur those of the extinct broad- 

 fronted bison (B. Latifrons), distinguished by its superior size, and its stouter and 

 less back wardly -inclined horns. 



THE CAPE BUFFALO (Bos Caffer) 



The Cape buffalo is our first representative of a group of oxen distinguished 

 by several well-marked characteristics. They are all heavily-built animals, with thick 

 and strong limbs, moderately-long tails, tufted at the end, short necks, very broad 

 muzzles, and large ears. The hair covering the body is always thin, and in old age 

 leaves the skin almost entirely naked. The horns, which are generally large and 

 massive, are more or less distinctly flattened and angulated, at least at the base, 

 where their cross section is triangular. They are placed on the skull a considerable 

 distance below the plane of the occiput; and their upper border is concave, with the 

 tips curved inward, the curvature being generally at first outward and backward, 

 and then outward and upward. In the skull the forehead is more or less markedly 

 concave, and the premaxillary bones reach upward to join the nasals, as in the typ- 

 ical oxen. The number of ribs is thirteen pairs. 



The Cape, or black African buffalo is the largest and fiercest member of the 

 group found in the continent, from which it takes its name. This species is char- 

 acterized by its blackish color, and the great massiveness of the relatively-short 

 horns, which are much flattened at the base, where they are expanded, so as to 

 form in old bulls a kind of helmet-like mass, covering the whole of the upper part 

 of the head, and with only a narrow line between them. From this expanded base 

 the curvature of the horns is at first outward, downward, and backward, and then 

 forward, upward, and inward; their smooth extremities being nearly cylindrical. 

 The skull is characterized by its shortness, and also by the deep concavity of the 

 profile below the horns; the nasal bones being extremely short, and the sockets of the 

 eyes not particularly prominent. The head has a very large and expanded muzzle, 

 and a characteristic hollow below the inner angle of the eye. The enormous flap- 

 ping ears are thickly fringed on their lower border with hair; their upper border be- 

 ing sharply truncated before the descent to the pointed extremity. With the 

 exception of the ears and the tip of the tail, the hair is very sparse, and it is only 

 on the head and limbs that old bulls can properly be said to be haired at all. In 

 the cows and young bulls the hair is, however, thicker; and its color in these is dark 

 brown, with a more or less marked reddish tinge. A well-grown bull buffalo will 

 stand between four feet, seven inches and four feet eight inches at the shoulder. 

 The horns vary in shape with the age of the animal. In regard to their size, Mr. 

 Selous states that the largest pair he obtained had an extreme span, from bend to 

 bend, in a straight line, of three feet eight inches, with a depth on the forehead of 

 fifteen inches; the total length of each horn along the curve being three feet. In 

 another example the same three dimensions were respectively three feet six inches, 

 seventeen inches, and two feet eleven inches. 



