483 



b'. Size small: generally 4 horns in male; tail 



short TETRACERUS. 



B. Horns with prominent rings at subequal intervals. 

 a'. Horns much longer than head ; females hornless. 



a". Horns spiral ; muzzle fine ANTILOPE. 



b". Horns nearly straight ; muzzle swollen .... PANTHOLOPS. 

 b' . Horns scarcely longer than the head ; females 



sometimes with horns. .. . GAZELLA. 



Genus BOS, Linn. (1766). 



Syn. Bubalus and Bison, H. Smith (1827); Bibos, Hodgs. (1837); 

 Poephagus, Gray (1843) ; Gavceus and Syncerus, Hodgson (1847). 



Size large. Body massive and limbs stout. Tail long, usually 

 tufted at the end. Muffle naked, large and broad. No suborbital, 

 inguinal, or interdigital glands. Mammas 4. 



Horns in both sexes, not differing greatly in size, smooth or 

 nearly so ; inserted, far apart, on each extremity of the vertex of 

 the skull, spreading more or less outwards at first, then curving 

 upwards. The surface of the skull behind the horns makes an 

 angle rather less than a right angle with the face. Molars very 

 hypsodont. Vertebras : C. 7, D. 13-14, L. 6-5, S. 5, C. 15-18. 



By many modern writers the animals here referred to the genus 

 Bos have been distributed amongst several genera. The distinc- 

 tions between the latter, however, are scarcely of generic rank. 

 The principal subdivisions are the typical or taurine, comprising 

 Bos gaums and B. sondaicus, the bisontine, including B. grunniens, 

 and the bubaline, to which B. bubalus belongs. 



Indian fossil oxen are numerous, at least 3 Pleistocene and 10 

 Pliocene forms having been described. The most important are 

 the Pleistocene B. namadicus, somewhat allied to Bos gaurus, but 

 with much larger horns, ancestral forms of the gaur and buffalo, 

 and a Pliocene bison, B. sivalensis. 



Synopsis of Indian, Ceylonese, and Burmese Species. 



A. Horns round or oval in section. 



a. No fringe of long hair on sides ; a raised 



dorsal ridge. 

 '. No white on back of thighs. 



a". Horns turned inwards near the tips . . B. gaurus, p. 484. 



b". Horns spreading, not turning inwards . B.frontalis, p. 487. 

 b'. A large white disk on hack of thighs .... B. sondaicus, p. 489. 



b. A fringe of long hair on sides; no dorsal 



ridge B. grunniens, p. 490. 



B. Horns trigonal or subtrigonal B. bubalus, p. 491. 



The common domestic humped cattle of India, Bos indicus, 

 belong to a species differing in structure, general coloration, voice, 

 and habits from the tame animal of Europe and Northern Asia, 

 B. taurus. The origin of B. indicus (sometimes called Zebu by 

 European naturalists) is unknown, but was in all probability 



