THE INDIAN BUFFALO 



THE INDIAN BUFFALO (Bos bubalus) 



793 



The Indian buffalo, or arna, as the male is called in India, is a very different 

 animal in appearance from either of the African species. It is characterized by the 

 much greater proportionate length of the head, of which the profile is nearly straight 

 and the centre of the forehead markedly convex. In the skull the sockets of the 

 eyes are very prominent, and the nasal bones are of much greater length than in the 

 African species. The ears are also much smaller and less open, with only a very 



THE INDIAN BUFFALO, FERAL RACE. 



(One-twentieth natural size.) 



slight fringe of hair on their edges. Still more distinctive are the horns, which are 

 very long, much flattened, and angulated throughout the greater part of their 

 length, with strongly-marked transverse wrinkles, and a distinctly triangular section. 

 They taper gradually from root to tip, and generally curve regularly upward, out- 

 ward, and a little backward from the line of the face in nearly a single plane; the 

 tips bending inward and slightly forward. This is the type represented in our illus- 

 tration; but in a variety, which is mainly or entirely from Assam, the horns are 



