42 MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 



part in both sexes. Each horn consists of a bony core (an extension 

 of the frontal bone of the skull), surrounded by the fibrous horn- 

 substance, which grows from the base, while it is worn away at the 

 tip, and which is never dropped off entire. This horn is never 

 branched, but consists of a single hollow stem, which in the dif- 

 ferent species varies considerably both in shape and size, as may be 

 seen by an examination of the fine series placed along the tops 

 of the Cases in the Osteological Gallery. 



The most remarkable specimens of Wild and Domesticated. 

 Cattle are exhibited in the Saloon and the adjoining part of the 

 Gallery, viz. : The head of a Hungarian Bull, as a representative 

 of the Common Domesticated Ox (Bos taurus), the numerous races 

 of which have been produced partly by crossing originally wild 

 species (Bos primigenius, Bos lonyifrons, Bos frontosus), which 

 now survive in their domesticated descendants only, and partly 

 by artificial selection. A Brahmin Bull or Zebu (Bos indicus), 

 the sacred Cattle of the Hindoos ; this specimen was bred 

 from a pair presented by Her Majesty to the Zoological Society, 

 and was thirteen years old at the time of its death in 188-k 

 A pair of the Gaur (Bos gaurus], a native of North and Central 

 India, almost untamable, and strong enough to hold its own against 

 the Tiger. A Gayal (Bos frontalis), a species living domesticated 

 in Assam and the neighbouring countries, but not known, at least 

 in that region, to occur wild ; it is said by some authorities to be 

 a modified domestic race of the Gaur, but by others, with more 

 probability, to be a distinct species, of which wild specimens have 

 been obtained in the mountains of Tenasserim. A Banteng (Bos 

 sondaicus), the indigenous Cattle of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. 

 No specimen of the Common Buffalo (Bos bubalus] is exhibited at 

 present; but numerous horns, showing the varieties of size and 

 shape, are fixed on the wall of the Osteological Saloon. The 

 Buffalo attains its greatest development in its original home, India, 

 where one race (called the Ami) is armed with horns upwards of 

 6 feet in length ; it ranges into North Africa and South Europe. 

 A pair of the wild Buffalo of South Africa (B. caffer] are ex- 

 hibited, showing their enormously thick solid horns, the bases of 

 which almost touch each other in the middle of the forehead. 

 The European Bison or Wizent (B. bonasm), originally a native 

 of the large forests of Europe, now restricted to the Caucasus, whence 



