THE INDIAN BUFFALO OR ARNA 427' 



Head of Indian Buffalo. Shot by the Maharaja of Cooch Behar. 



The INDIAN BUFFALO or ARNA (Bos [Bubalus] bubalis). 



No one is the least likely to confuse this animal with the African 

 species. Both belong, indeed, to the same group of the genus Bos, 

 and have the same rounded upper portion of the head and angulated 

 horns. In the Indian species, however, the head is much longer, the 

 ears are narrower and less heavily haired, and the horns of the male 

 are widely separated on the forehead, and totally different in form. 

 Two types of horns may be recognised, one very massive, and curving 

 regularly up from each side of the head in a subcircular manner ; the 

 other more slender, directed for the greater part of their length 

 almost straight out from the head, and always with a wider spread. 

 The first is the typical race (B. bubalis typicus), while the second, or 

 Assam, race (probably now extinct) is B. bubalis macroceros. A third 

 race is the tawny Assam buffalo (B. b. fulvus}, whose horns are like 

 those of the first race. Height at shoulder about 6 feet 2 inches ; 

 girth behind shoulder, i o feet 8 inches. In a bull shot by the Maharaja 

 of Cooch-Behar the length from the nose to the tip of the tail was 

 1 4 feet 2 inches, and to the base of the tail i i feet ; the maximum 

 girth being 10 feet 8 inches, and the weight of the head, when cut off, 

 158 Ibs. 



