The Buffalo 101 



form arising from the forehead of the skull, to which they remain attached 

 throughout adult life. 



In the members of the ox-tribe (Bos) the horns are present in both sexes, 

 and are nearly as large in the males as in the females ; generally extend- 

 ing more or less outwardly from the sides of the head, and being either 

 cylindrical, compressed, or angulated, without either distinct knots or bold 

 transverse wrinkles or rings. The long tail is either tufted at the end or 

 (rarely) long-haired throughout ; the head is massive and carried low ; and 

 the large ears may be fringed with long hairs. The colour of the hair is 

 generally uniform, although there may be white " stockings," and (very 

 rarely) a white rump-patch. The face is without glands, and the broad 

 muzzle moist and naked. The females have four teats. Very important 

 is the form of the cheek-teeth, which in the upper jaw have tall, square, 

 prismatic crowns, very similar to those of the horses, but with a different 

 pattern on the grinding surface. Oxen range over all the continents of the 

 world except South America and Australia. 



The wild African representatives of the genus belong to the sub-genus 

 Bubalus, or buffaloes, in all of which the large horns are more or less 

 distinctly angulated at the base, and are set lower down on the head than 

 in the typical oxen. Although the extreme forms of the series are very 

 unlike, all the African buffaloes may be arranged under a single specific 

 heading (Bos caffer), of which the following local races can be recognised, 

 viz. : — 



a. Cape buffalo (Bos caffer typicus) 



b. Abyssinian buffalo (Bos caffer aquinoctiatis) 



c. Senegambian „ ( „ „ planiceros) 



d. Congo „ ( „ „ nanus) 



e. Lake Tchad „ ( „ „ brachyceros) 



