794 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



directed straight outward for the greater part of their length, and then suddenly 

 curve upward. 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 outward are met 

 with. The body becomes almost bare in old animals, and the general color is ashy 

 black, although the legs may be whitish, or even, in domestic races, quite white be- 

 low the knees and hocks. There is, however, a dun-colored variety of this species, 

 described by Mr. Blandford, from upper Assam, in which the forehead is more con- 

 vex than ordinary, and the nasaj bones of the skull are much shorter. 



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

 ceeds five feet four inches (sixteen hands) at the withers; and in one specimen, of 

 which he gives the dimensions, the height was five feet, the length from the nose to 

 the root of the tail nine feet seven inches; that of the tail three feet eleven inches-, 

 and the girth eight feet three inches. In the same specimen the length of the 

 horns, measured from tip to tip along the greater curve, was eight feet three inches. 

 A skull in the Britism Museum has horns measuring twelve feet two inches from tip 

 to tip along the curve; while a detached horn in the same collection has a length of 

 six feet six and one-half inches, which indicates a span of about fourteen feet from 

 tip to tip in the pair. 



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

 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 im- 

 probably 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 Himalayas, 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 

 found in many parts of the plains of India, and generally in the neigh- 

 borhood of swamps; but it may also be 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 " frequently, 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 pres- 

 ence of the animals; the probably nearly noiseless rush might be caused by other 

 animals; and where the horns have not been seen it is only by the strong, sweet 

 bovine scent similar to, but much more powerful than, that of cows that one can 

 be absolutely certain of what is in front of one." In such jungles, needless to say, 



