38 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Fei.ri-ary 1, 1894. 



structure of its grinding teeth fwhich in the upper jaw 

 are narrow, and have no additional cokimn on the inner 

 side), prove it to be essentially a sheep. 



One would have liked to hear Mr. Lydekker's specula- 

 tions as to why animals having such different pedigrees as 

 the musk ox and the buffalo should have developed horns 

 of such similar character. I'nlike the horns of other 

 oxen and sheep, they cannot be detached from the skull. 

 They spring from rugged flattened bosses which form a 

 horny mass protecting the forehead, and then curve down- 

 w^ards, and afterwards upwards, becoming thin and 

 cylindrical before they terminate in the sharp points 

 which are used for offensive warfare. Two other animals 

 of very dissimilar character, the takin of Assam and the 

 white-tailed gnu of Southern Africa, both of which are 

 antelopes, have horns of very similar form protecting their 

 foreheads, though their habits, surroundings, and relation- 

 ships are entirely different from those of the musk ox and 

 buffalo. Only the male of the white-tailed gnu, the buffalo, 

 and the musk ox, have these forehead protecting horns, 

 so that probably they are of some service for fighting 

 purposes. 



The musk ox is an essentially Arctic animal, well 

 adapted by its massive feet (of which the sole is in part 

 hairy) for getting over the roughest ground with facilitv. 

 They associate in small herds, which Mr. Lydekker states 

 do not usually comprise more than thirty individuals. At 

 the present day it is confined to North America, to the 

 north of latitude G0°. Its range seems to be steadily 

 becoming more restricted. Thus it was formerly common 

 in Alaska, skulls having been obtained by Captain Beechey, 

 during the voyage of H.M.S. " Blossom " in 182.5 to 1828, 



The Head of a Capo Buffalo (Bos caffer). 



from the frozen deposits of Kotzebue Sound, in Behring 

 Strait, and they have also been found on the upper part of 

 the Porcupine River in Canada. Its bones have been 

 found, together with human remains, as well as those of 

 the bison and reindeer, in the Dordogne, and at a still 

 earlier period, when mammoths existed in England, it 

 was a resident here, indicating probably Arctic conditions 

 at the time. While the musk ox only inhabits regions which 

 are covered with snow during a great part of the year, 

 the Cape buffalo is usually found in reedy swamps from 

 the Cape as far north as the equator, but some individuals 

 are found inhabiting heavy timber jungles. These, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Drummond, have more widely spreading 

 lioms. Nearly all books of African sportsmen teem with 



anecdotes of hair-breadth escapes from the charges of 

 buffaloes. The massive horny shield on the forehead of 

 the old bulls renders their heads practically safe from a 

 shot, though it is just possible to kill them by a well- 

 planted bullet in the line of junction of the two horns. 

 In the Pleistocene times the buffalo, known as Bos 

 (intii/uus of the Cape, had horns with a stretch from tip to 

 tip of at least fourteen feet. 



In speaking of rhinoceros horns, Mr. Lydekker describes 

 one in my collection as measuring forty and a quarter 

 inches long and twenty-two inches in basal circumference, 

 weighing thirteen pounds. I have since obtained one 

 measuring forty and a half inches in length with twenty- 

 nine and a half inches basal circumference, and weighing 

 twenty-four and three-quarter pounds. 



Treating of wild oxen, wild sheep, wild goats, the ante- 

 lopes of Asia and of Africa, the deer of Asia and of South 

 America, wild pigs, and rhinoceroses, the book covers a 

 wide area of ground. It is written in a thoroughly popular 

 style, combined with 'Mr. Lydekker's usual care and 

 accuracy, and will be invaluable, not only to travellers 

 and sportsmen, but likewise to the stay-at-home lovers of 

 natural history who are interested in the study of the 

 larger horned and hoofed animals which the sportsmen 

 speaks of as big game. Now that so many yoimg English- 

 men are making their home, either permanently or 

 temporarily, in South and East Africa, the amount of 

 information contained in the chapter on African antelopes, 

 which cannot be obtained elsewhere in a collected form, 

 ought alone to be sufficient to ensure the book a wide 

 circulation. Both author and publisher are to be con- 

 gratulated on the result of their efforts. 



Edmund Loder. 



%ttttV^. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the opinions or 

 statements of correspondents.] 



KETLRNS OF PERIODICAL COMETS, AND OF 1881 V. 

 (DENNING). 



To the Editor of Knowledge. 



Sir, — Mr. Lynn, in speaking of the " periodical comets 

 due during the remainder of the present century " (see 

 his work on " Eemarkable Comets,'' p. 39, and article in 

 Knowledge, vol. xvii., p. 7), appears to ignore the periodi- 

 cal comet which I had the honour of discovering on the 

 early morning of October -Ith, 1881. Mr. Lynn, however, 

 refers to this object on page 27 of his book, saying, " the 

 period was determined to be about nine years, but the 

 comet has not been seen since, probably owing to pertur- 

 bations as it approaches the paths of several planets." I 

 would point out to Mr. Lynn that the comet returned 

 unoh.scrveil to perihelion in 1890 in consequence of its 

 singularly unfavourable position near the sun, and that we 

 are by no means driven to the alternati\'e of planetary 

 perturbations to explain its non- visibility on that occasion. 

 Presumably no one looked for the comet at its return in 

 1890 because no one expected to find it, as the ephemeris 

 computed and published by Dr. Matthiessen showed that it 

 must escape observation, being more or less in the glare of 

 the sun during the few months when it was tolerably near 

 the earth. The comet is, however, likely to reappear at 

 the close of 1898 or beginning of 1899, when its more 

 favourable position encourages the hope that it may he 

 redetected. 



