1834.] from the neighbourhood of Hoshangdbdd. 401 



existing diminutive species of cattle bear any comparison to its mag- 

 nitude. We have not in the museum the skull of a wild buffalo, which 

 would best suit the purposes of comparison, and must therefore rest 

 contented with reporting the exact dimensions and appearance of the 

 specimen. 



[After writing the above to be read at the meeting, Dr. Evans was 

 so obliging as to bring to the Society a very fine skull of a buffalo pre- 

 pared by himself, which on being placed in juxtaposition with the fossil, 

 accorded with it so entirely in character that no doubt could be enter- 

 tained of their identity. In dimensions there was a considerable difference 

 in favor of the fossil, but Dr. Evans has another skeleton on a larger 

 scale, so that the magnitude of the fossil is not so remarkable. He was 

 inclined to think sufficient disparity existed in the arch of the forehead 

 to constitute a variety of species. The absence of the horns however 

 makes it impossible to decide this point.] 



The following are the dimensions of the Jabalpur fossil head, as com- 

 pared with Dr. Evans' buffalo. 



fossil, modern. 

 Forehead, between the sutures at the root of the horn processes, 12 in. 8 in. 

 Length from the crown of the forehead to foremost molar tooth, 18 do. 13 



Width of jaw, from exterior of teeth, 64 do. 6 



Length occupied by molar teeth, 7 do. 5.7 



Girth of horn process at the base, 13 do. 10.5 



Depth of skull from the occiput to the head of the condyles, . . 8f do. 8 



Diameter of the foramen magnum, 2 do. 1.8 



Probable length of the head, 26 do. 22 



The largest fossil cranium of an ox, in the Jardin des Plantes, is 1 1.8 

 inches from the crown of the occiput to the root of the nasal bone, 

 which gives a total length of 25 inches, or somewhat less than ours : 

 the circumference of the root of the horn was 13.4 or 0.4 larger than 

 ours. 



Taking for granted that the specimen belongs to the buffalo, it 

 is the first fossil buffalo known to geologists : for although the 

 bones of the ruminantia are found every where most abundantly in 

 the fossil state, it has been always understood, as asserted by Pidgeon, 

 that " As yet no relic whatever has been found which resembles 

 any variety of the Indian or the Cape buffalo." It has moreover been 

 remarked as a singular fact, that while the fossil pachydermata, 

 discovered in all parts of the world, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the 

 hippopotamus, and tapir, all belong to the torrid zone ; the whole of 

 the fossil ruminants appertain precisely to the genera at present most 

 common in the northern climates, the aurochs, the musk ox, the rein 

 deer, &c. 



2f 



