Goats, Sheep and Antelopes — Bison. 



47 



1875.] 



This species appears to be distributed from Arakan through Pegu to the 

 extremity of the Malayan peninsula, and to occur in Siam and Formosa, and 

 also in Sumatra. 



This species varies much in colour, from red to black, and the black 

 sometimes with a white nape, or the hairs of the nape may be white at the 

 base only. Two flat skins from Arakan are of a pale red-brown colour j 

 with black dorsal list, and quite resemble the figure of one from Formosa, 

 which is styled C. swinhoei. The late Lieut. Beavan, again, described a 

 female shot on "the grass and bamboo-covered sides of Zwagaben" moun- 

 tain, near Maulmein, as being of a mingled black and ferruginous colour,* 

 and he mentions that the animal had been seen at Thayet Myo in Pegu. 

 Mason also states that it is common on the mountains of Tonghoo, and 

 Cantor obtained it from those of the Malayan peninsula. The "wild goat" 

 mentioned by Crawfurd, as stated by the Siamese "to be found in some of 

 the mountains of their country, and to be shot for their horns, which are 

 prized by the Chinese for certain alleged restorative properties, " can hardly 

 be any other. On comparison of skulls from Sumatra, Arakan, and 

 Mergui, I could detect no distinguishing character, and they differ little 

 from those of C. bubalina of the forest region of the Himalaya, except 

 in being considerably smaller. The genus is a very peculiar one, by no 

 means so nearly related to the Goats and Gorals as is generally supposed, 

 but examples of it should be studied in captivity before it can be thoroughly 

 understood, and the skeleton of this form is a desideratum in European 

 collections. 



Fam. Bovidse. 



The Bovine family. 

 *120. Bos gauetts (J. 238). 



Bos gaurusj C. H. Smith. Fine skull figured in J. A. S. B. vi. p. 224; another ibid. x. 

 470. Pyoung. 



The Gaur, or " Bison" of Indian sportsmen, is diffused in all suitable 

 localities throughout British Burma, and its range extends southward to the 

 straits of Singapore, but not to any of the islands. Nowhere does this grand 

 species attain a finer development than in Burma, and the horns are mostly 

 short and thick, and very massive, as compared with those of Indian Gaurs, 

 though the distinction is not constant on either side of the Bay of Bengal. 

 In the Malayan peninsula, where it is known as the Salandang, this animal 

 would appear to be becoming extremely rare, at least to the southward ; and 



* P. Z. S. 1866, p. 4. 



