546 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



animal, and there is occasional economic utilization of the hides. 

 Three males may be killed on a license, but females are protected. 

 (Roche, in litt., December, 1936.) 



P. Vitry (in litt., December, 1936) gives the following informa- 

 tion for Laos. Even 25-30 years ago the Buffalo was not very num- 

 erous. About 1910 one or two herds were observed below Ban 

 Houeisai on the left shore of the Mekong, the same number in a 

 great forest south of Savannakhet near Sebang Nouane, and a few 

 somewhat more important herds on the east and southeast of Bassac 

 and on the Cambodian border along the Mekong. These are the 

 only places where a few individuals may perhaps still exist. The 

 natives do not seem to have been particularly interested in killing 

 them, although the meat, horns, and hide are in some demand. Since 

 the animal is almost extinct, complete protection would not change 

 the situation. The country does not seem to form a favorable 

 habitat, with the possible exception of the Boloven Plateau. Al- 

 though feral domesticated animals seem to thrive there, Wild 

 Buffaloes are not known to have been observed. 



James L. Clark (in litt., June 26, 1936) refers to two great game 

 areas where Buffaloes still survive. "One is the plains of the Lagna 

 River, 125 miles northeast of Saigon; the other is Cioba, in Annam. 



"In spite of all the loose shooting . . . , the game generally, with 

 the exception of the buffalo, is holding its own very well. . . . 



"On account of their being confined to a very limited type of 

 habitat, the buffalo are really in danger of extinction. 



"Defosse [a professional hunter] told me that the game had been 

 tremendously plentiful there in the early days, but about 1912 

 rinderpest came in and wiped it out in great numbers; and again 

 about 1920 rinderpest came and again destroyed the buffalo. 



"Louis Defosse told me that his father must have shot 2,000 or 

 3,000 of these wild buffalo for hides, which he sold for 25 piastres 

 each. At this time, which was 20 years ago, they were there in 

 thousands and the whole plains were sometimes covered with them." 



Malay Peninsula. "Malayan Bubalus are feral and need no pro- 

 tection" (F. N. Chasen, in litt., March 31, 1937). 



Bornean Buffalo 



BUBALUS BUBALIS HOSBI (Lydekker) 



Bos bubalis hosei Lydekker, Wild Oxen, Sheep, & Goats, p. 126, 1898. 

 ("Borneo"; type locality restricted by Lydekker (1913, vol. 1, p. 46) to 

 "Sarawak, Borneo.") 



Very meager information is available as to the numerical and 

 even the systematic status of this animal. Authorities do not agree 

 as to whether it is an aboriginally wild form. It is included here 

 mainly to round out the account of Asiatic and Malayan Buffaloes. 



