621 



BOVID.R 



BOVID.E. 



whilst the moderns only allow it 20 or 30 miles. The beef is not 

 bad, but is neither so sweet nor so good as that of the common 

 Ox, the hump always excepted, which when well cooked is very 

 delicate. 



The Zebus bear a charmed life among the Hindoos, who venerate 

 them and hold their slaughter to be a sin ; though they do not object 

 to work them. There are however some particularly sanctified Zebus, 

 who lead an easy life, wandering about the villages at their ease, and 

 taking their pleasure and their food where they list, if not prevented 

 by the contributions of the devout. 



Iti'lian Ox, or Zebu (Z/oi Indicia) \:i{e variety. 



They may be seen every day wandering at large in the streets of 

 Calcutta eating rice, grain, and flour in the bazaar ; and the utmost a 

 native does when he sees them honouring his goods too much, is 

 to urge them by the gentlest hints to taste some of the good things 

 on his neighbour's stall. The superstitious regard for these animals 

 accounts for the use of cow-dung in the representation of objects on 

 the walls. This substance is also collected and dried and used for 

 cooking food, apparently with a religious object in view, as it is used 

 in Calcutta where wood is in abundance. 



Mr. Bennett in his work on the ' Gardens and Menagerie of the 

 Zoological Society,' has expressed an opinion that the Zebu is but a 

 variety of the common Ox, but Mr. Vasey observes that the number 

 of the vertebra; and the period of gestation both differ from that of 

 the Ox. 



B. Dante, the Dante. Face rather narrow ; forehead very flat, 

 with the horns on the side of the high occipital ridge ; withers 

 with a small but distinct hump. This animal is not so well known 

 as the preceding. It is the Bos dfijrma et parriu Afi'icanut of Belon ; 

 Jurenca ii/lvatris of Alpinus, Sot fiubaliu Afncanus of Brisson ; Salam 

 Buffalo, Dwarf Bull, Egyptian Zebu, of various writers. Long in 

 his 'Egypt' says that this animal agrees better with the humped 

 cattle on the ancient Egyptian tombs than with the Zebus. Mr. 

 Wliitfield brought a pair of these animals to England. The bull is 

 still living in the gardens of the Zoological Society. He is white, 

 with a few brown specks on the head. The female is yellow-brown, 

 with a very nnrrow head. 



verse, convex, shelving before and behind ; the intennaxillaries 

 elongate, extending back, and between the nasal and check-bones ; 

 teats in a cross series, the outer one rather before the others. 



B. brarhiiceria, the Zamouse, or Bush Cow. Forehead flat ; horns 

 short, thick, depressed at the base ; ears very large, strongly fringed 

 on the edge, mul with two diverging strongly-fringed lines within; fur 

 short, close, brown. This is the Bot Bubalua of Children, and Bo 

 Ciiffer of Huppell. This animal, according to Dr. Gray, who has 

 described one in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, differs from the 

 buffalo and all other oxen in several important characters, especially 

 in the large size and particular bearding of the ears, and in being 

 totally deficient of any dewlap. It also differs from the buffalo in 

 its forehead being flatter, and quite destitute of the convex form, 

 which is so striking in all the varieties of that animal. 



B. Buffalue, the Buffalo. Forehead convex, rounded ; horns large, 

 flattened at the base, black on the plane of the face, bent do\vn and 

 recurved at the tip; ears quite half the length of the head, slightly 

 ciliated ; fur rough, irregular, bristly, often very far apart, on the 

 face before the eyes two-rowed. This animal is the Bot Bulalvt of 

 Brisson ; the Bos Bubaiis of Linnaeus ; Buflie, French ; and Biiffel, 

 German. A variety was called by Shaw os Arnee, which is the 

 BvJialnt A rna of Hodgson. 



Mr. ]!. II. Hodgson, who has by his labours thrown so much light 

 upon Indian zoology, says of the Indian Buffaloes : "The Bhainsa, or 

 Tame Buffalo, ia universal in India. The Arna, or Wild Buffalo 



inhabits the margins rather than the interior of primaeval forests. 

 They never ascend the mountains, and adhere like the rhinoceros to 

 the most swampy sites of the district they inhabit. There is no 

 animal upon which ages of domesticity have made so small an 



Skull and Horns of the Arnec. 



impression as upon the Buffalo, the tame being still most clearly 

 referriblo to the wild ones at present frequenting all the great swampy 

 jungles of India. In the wilderness as in the cow-house there is a 

 marked distinction between the long (macrocerus) and curved-horned 

 (tpirocerus) buffaloes. 



" The Arna ruts in autumn, gestating ten mouths, and produces 

 one or two young in summer. It lives in large herds, but in the 

 season of love the most lusty males lead off and appropriate several 

 females, with which they form small herds for the time. The Wild 

 Buffalo is fully one-third larger than the largest tame breeds, measuring 

 10J feet from snout to vent, and 6 or 64 feet high at the shoulders, 

 and is of such power and vigour as by his charge frequently to 

 prostrate a well-sized elephant. It is remarkable for the uniform 

 shortness of the tail, which does not extend lower than the hock, for 

 the tufts which cover the forehead and knees, and lastly for the great 

 size of its horns. They are uniformly in high condition, so unlike the 

 leanness and angularity of the Domestic Buffalo, even at its best." 



The Buffalo has been introduced into Italy, where it is made very 

 useful as a beast of burden, its great strength giving it an advantage 

 over horses and ordinary oxen, in the marshy and swampy districts 

 where the roads are frequently two or three feet deep with mud. A 

 singular fact with regard to them is, that they thrive best in those 

 districts which are most infected with malaria. The Manilla Buffalo 

 is also a variety of this species. 



B. Coffer, the Cape Buffalo. Horns black, extremely large, and 

 flattened at their base, where they cover the front, having a direction 

 from within outwards and downwards, and then again elevated at 

 their point ; ears rather pendant, and covered by the horns ; dewlap 

 large and pendant; skin with harsh hairs an inch long of a deep 

 brown or black colour. Size great, and proportions massive. 



Skull of Capo Buffalo (Dubahis Caffcr). 



This is the Bos Coffer of Sparmann and other naturalists. Also 

 known by the name of the Cape Ox. It is a native of South Africa. 



The Cape Buffalo congregates in large herds. Thunberg and his 

 companions came .suddenly upon a mass of 500 or 600, which were 



