013 



BOURNONITE. 



BOVID.E. 



614 



BOURN02OTE, a compound of the sulphurets of lead, antimony, 

 and copper. It occurs massive and crystallised. The primary form 

 is a right rhombic prism. The cleavage is parallel to the primary 

 planes and to both the diagonals of the prism. Colour, steel or 

 blackish-gray; streak similar. The fracture uneven, couchoidal. 

 Hardness 2'5 to 3'0. Lustre metallic. Opaque. Specific gravity 

 5'79 to 5"S3. It is found in Cornwall, Clausthal, Pfaffenberg, Mexico, 

 and Peru. The following analysis of the mineral from Cornwall is by 

 Hatchett : 



Sulphur ....... 17'OQ 



Lead . 42-62 



Antimony 24-23 



Copper . . 12-80 



Iron 1-20 



97-85 



BOVID^E, a family of the Ungulate or Hoofed division of the 

 Mammalia, is thus characterised by Dr. J. E. Gray in the ' Catalogue 

 of the Mammalia in the British Museum' : 



Two middle toes separate ; cutting teeth eight below ; upper jaw 

 callous ; grinders six in each jaw. Frontal bones produced, generally 

 bearing horns, especially in the jaales. Gullet with two long pouches 

 juat before the stomach, used for holding and soaking the food before 

 it is chewed. Using their head and horns in defence. 

 The Bovidce include the following tribes : 



Boi-lna, Cervina, Giraffina, Motchina, Camdina. 

 The tribe Borina is again divided into the sub-tribes : 

 Borecr, Strep&icerea, Aniilopecf, Caprece, Ovece. 



In this article the species of the' sub-tribe Borete which includes 

 our common Oxen will be described. The A ntilopaf and Strepticerete 

 are described under ANTILOPE.E, and the other sub-tribes under OVE.E 

 and CAI-RE.K. 



The Bovece are characterised by having the horns smoothish, spread 

 out on the sides, cylindrical or depressed at the base, situated on the 

 fnmtal ridge, and bent laterally outward and recurved at the tips. 

 The nose is broad, with the nostrils on the side. The skull has no 

 Buborbital pit or fissure ; the cutting teeth are nearly equal-sized, 

 and slightly shelving outwards. The knee (or wrist) is below the 

 middle of the fore leg, the cannon bone being shorter than the fore- 

 arm bone. 



Dr. Gray observes that the genera of Borae may be divided into 

 groups by the condition of the muffle. Thus Bo, Bibot, Bion, 

 H"i"ti.nt, and Anna have a naked moist muffle, whilst Pocphagut, 

 Oniboi, and Budorccu have a hairy ovine muzzle. The first series are 

 characterised in their habits by living on the plains of warm or 

 temperate regions, whilst the last are inhabitant*) of mountainous 

 and snowy regions. 



The genera Bo, Bubalui, Bibos, and Anoa are the true Oxen, and 

 are distinguished from Bion (the Bisons) by having their bodies 

 covered with rather stiff hair; the shoulder proportionate to the 

 haunches, and the cannon bone of the hind and fore legs of equal 

 length. 



Bot. Horns cylindrical, conical, nearly circular at the base, curved 

 upwards and outwards, far apart at the base, on the sides of the 

 upper part of the ridge at the hinder end of the occipital plane. The 

 facial and frontal portion of the skull equal. Dorsal ridge distinct, 

 sometimes produced into a dorsal hump. 



Bo Taurut, the Bull. The forehead is flat; the withers not 

 humped. 



This species is the common Ox, which is so widely diffused over the 

 surface of the earth, and of whose utility to man we have very early 

 records. Dr. Gray gives upwards of forty synonyms for this species. 

 It is the Bog Tauru of Pliny ; Tauran eaitratut of Johnston ; Vacca 

 nfCiwner; Bus dvineaticus and Bo Taurus of Linnaeus; the Bull, Ox, 

 and Common Ox of Pennant and Shaw ; the Stier and Ochs of German 



Bull of Low ; the Wild Cattle of Bewick. Varieties of this species 

 are known to the grazier by a large number of names : some of these 

 are generally recognised, and have characteristic types, as the Pem- 

 broke Bull, the West Highland Bull, the Zetland Cow, the Kerry 

 Cow, the Alderney Cow. the Fifeshire Cow, Long-Horned or Lancashire 



Bull, the English Short-Horn Cattle, the Short-Horn Ox, the Polled 

 Suffolk Cow, the Sussex Ox, the Yorkshire Cow. Amongst those 

 recognised of foreign rearing we may mention the Holstein or Dutch 

 Bull, the Polish Bull, the Hungarian Bull, the South African Long- 

 Horned Cattle, Swiss Cattle, Alpine Cattle, the Syrian Ox, Moldavian 

 Cattle, the Italian Campagna Bull, Spanish Bulln, Egyptian Cattle, the 



Laut of Africa Bo humilit of Frisch, the Galla Ox Bog Taurus 



of Gmelin, the Cattle of Peauby, the Cattle of Brazil, the 

 Cattle of Chili, the Nata or Niata of Buenos Ayres, and the Falkland 

 Islands Wild Cattle. 



As this species may be taken as the type of the tribe, we shall 

 here present a sketch of its organisation. 



We shall first speak of the skeleton. The front or forehead 

 is wide and flattened ; the lacrymal bone is enlarged below, and 

 leaves no open space between it and the nasal bone. The upper 

 occipital and parietal bones unite at so early a period into a 

 single bone, that the calf almost at its birth has them already in 

 the confluent state ; but in the earlier stages of the foetus the 

 two parietal and the two iuterparietal bones are distinguishable. 

 The occipital suture remains strong below the occipital cYest, and 

 so differs from the other rumiuauts ; and the frontal suture reaches 

 up to this crest, thus forming the principal character of the phy- 

 siognomy of the Ox. The hole analogous to the sphasno-palatine 

 aperture is enormous, and is hidden in the sunken space behind the 

 orbital or supermolar prominence of the maxillary bone ; at its 

 superior border a small portion only of the vbmer is perceptible. 

 The tympanic cavities terminate in long sharp points, and between 

 them the basilary bone presents two strong prominences. The 

 temporal ala of the anterior sphenoid bone, which in the antelopes 

 and stags has the crest but slightly projecting, has in the Oxen a 

 strong and sharp projection. 



Teeth of Ox. 



The rest of the skeleton is much like that of the other Ruminants, 

 and the following cuts will give a better idea than words of the 

 construction of the extremities. 



The anterior angle of the spine of the scapula is prolonged as in 

 the camels into an acromial apophysi*, and the spinal border is 

 rounded ; moreover in the Ox the base of the spine towards the 

 neck of the bone is blended with the anterior border. In the pelvis 

 of the Ruminants generally the spinal angle of the ossa ilii is wider 

 and placed more backwards than the external angle, the truncation 

 of which is oblique and nearly continuous to the anterior border 

 of the bone. The pelvis of the Ox may thus be easily distinguished 

 from that of the horse, which has its spinal angle pointed and as 

 forward as the external angle, which last is more truncated, MO as to 

 be nearly square. The ischium of the Ox moreover is much more 

 elevated above the cotyloid cavity, the ischial tuberosity is truncated 

 so as to present three angles, and the posterior edge of the pelvis forms 

 a well-marked re-entering angle, whilst in the horse the same part 

 is nearly rectilinear. 



