KONGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND. 35. N:0 3. 37 



of strengthening effect the great width of the two tubes, sheath and core, which together 

 form the horn of the Indian buffalo, must be taken into consideration. The horns of this 

 animal thus combine great power of resistance with compai'atively small weight. 



The horns of the common ox {Bos taurus) are, as is well-known, almost cylindrical 

 or conical with round sections. The base of the core is, however, as a rule compressed 

 in the frontal plane. This is the case not only in doraesticated breeds, but also in the 

 extinct primigenius. In a skull of the latter kept in Upsala Zoological Museum (but 

 originally found in a peatbog in Scania) the longest diameter of a section of the core 

 is the one in the frontal plane, the one vertical to this hardly measuring more than three 

 fourths of the former in length. The cores of both living and extinct forms are hollow 

 and resemble in this respect those of the Indian buffalo. The sinus is surrounded by 

 ■firm walls. There is also an interiör trabecular system bracing the outer walls. Thanks 

 to the variable curving and shape of the horns not only in different breeds but even in 

 different individuals the trabeculaj are, and must be, arranged in a varying manner. 

 A detailed description should thus only be applicable to one or some few individuals 

 and is therefore omitted. It seems, however, as if in Bos taurus primigenius the upper 

 and lower sides should be more richly braced by the trabeculte than the anterior and 

 postei*ior broader sides. That is proximally, for the cores in the specimen at hand are 

 not complete. A similar arrangement I find also in a young domesticated bull. But in 

 the latter it is conspicuous that the anterior concave side of the horn is better furnished 

 with trabeculaj than the posterior convex one. The horns of the cows are less thick and 

 less strong. At the same time their shape is less constant. It seems, however, in this 

 case, too, as if the concave side of the basal curve was more strongly braced than other 

 parts. The arrangement of the trabeculte is not very regular, but at least in some instances 

 their main extension is concordant with the trajectories of Culmann's law although often 

 only a part of the trajectory is represented by a trabecula. It can also be said, that the 

 trabeculai have a bracing influence on the walls of the core even in such cases, when 

 their arrangement is not theoretically the most effective. The thickness of the horny sheath 

 and the, especially in the buUs, great width of the horns contribute essentially to their 

 strength. The compression of the basal parts and other mechanical arrangement serve 

 to increase the strength of the horn in the plane of attack in the hooking act from below 

 and upwards. 



The horns of the African buffalo differ very much from the type exhibited by the 

 horns of the common ox and the Indian buffalo. They do so in such a remarkable degree, 

 that if any decisive judgment could be pronounced only from the knowledge about the 

 structure of the horns alone, the African and the Indian buftaloes would not, indeed, be 

 included in the same genus. Material for this investigation has been obtained by making 

 a longitudinal section through the large horn of a Cape buffalo. The general exteriör 

 shape of the horns of this animal has been very properly described by Lydekker^) with 



the following words: »Horns large and massive at first directed mainly outwards, 



but also dipping boldly downwards and backwards, so as to be depressed much behind the 



1) Wild Oxen etc. p. 97. 



