41 



THE INDIAN WILD BUFFALO. 



By J. D. Inveraeity. 



(With Plates A, B, and C.) 



{Read hefore the Bombay Natural History Society on l^th Sept., 1895.) 



There are said to be two varieties of Indian wild buffalo — the one 

 with straight horns turned up at the end (macrocerus of Hodgson) and 

 the other with horns which curve round and approach a circle in shape 

 (spirocerus of Hodgson), and Forsyth says that those found in the 

 Central Provinces belong to the latter variety. My experience is 

 entirely confined to the buffalo that inhabit the sal forests in the Cen- 

 tral Provinces. I can see no difference between some of the heads 

 procured from that part of India and heads which come from Bengal 

 and Assam. There is a great variety in the form that the horns of 

 the Central Provinces' buffalo assume, as will be seen by reference to 

 the plates that accompany this paper. 



Before referring further to them, it will be convenient to give the 

 measurements of the horns there depicted. Plate B is drawn on a 

 smaller scale than Plate C. 



A scale of a foot is shown on plates B and C, which will enable any 

 one to check these measurements. No. 1 on plate C is 8 inches longer 

 than No. 2, though No. 2 to my mind is the finer head. There is 

 no scale to plate A, but the distance between the tips, 4' 1'', will 

 serve as a scale. Plate A represents a typical specimen of a solitary 

 bull — the points of the horns being more perfect than usual. 



No. 1 in phite B is the head of a soli':iry bull. I have several others 

 of siinilav sliape Ahich a])j)eai- to aie to resembio cxacily heads I have 

 seen from Bengal and Assam. 



No. 2 in plate B adorned a very large bull in a herd ; they are 

 unusually long horns for a Central Provinces' buffalo and are compara- 



6 



