0478 Notice of the various 



monly in the cow banteng ; and upon such a specimen (of which — the 

 actual individual — we possess figures) is founded the Bos asseel of the 

 much respected veteran zoologist Dr. Horsfield. The finest head of 

 a bull we ever saw, of several dozens, we purchased some time 

 ago at a Calcutta auction for one rupee, it being put up as a buffalo 

 skull ; and this remarkably fine specimen is now in the Calcutta 

 Museum. 



The horns upon it are beautifully symmetrical ; and — what is 

 unusual in first-rate gaour-skulls — they are not broken away at the 

 tips, the result, we may suppose, of the combats of these gigantic 

 animals. Round the outside curvature they measure each 30 inches, 

 circumference at the base 14j inches, 6 inches in horizontal diameter 

 across the base, greatest width apart 3 feet (measuring from the outside), 

 tips 21 inches apart, distance apart posteriorly at base 8-^ inches ; 

 from forehead to tip of nasal bones 19 inches; the intermaxillaries 

 reaching 3 inches further; breadth of orbits apart posteriorly, 11-J 

 inches. Weight of the skull with horns, minus the lower jaw, just 

 30 lbs. Skull extraordinarily massive. The horns are much flattened 

 as far as the outward curvature continues, rounder where the tips hook 

 inward, and are of a pale greenish glaucous hue, with black tips; and 

 for nearly the basal half they exhibit a series of bold transverse rugae. 

 The colour of the beast is brown, passing more or less to black, with 

 whitish fulvescent stockings to the four limbs, and the same pale hue 

 on the somewhat lengthened hair of the forehead, and on that lining 

 the ears ; the cows running generally paler. According to Mr. Hodgson, 

 the rugous bases of the horns "are furnished posteally with a fragrant 

 secretion." 



He was a fine fellow who originally owned the above head-piece. 

 There is also a perfect skeleton of a very respectable bull, and another 

 of a cow, in the museum of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta ; together 

 with a stuffed bull, which was in tolerable proportions when first set 

 up, but the great weight and contraction of the skin in drying have 

 spoiled the shape altogether. 



The most remarkable feature of the gaour is its high spinal ridge, 

 the apophyses of the longest vertebrae measuring 16 inches in length ;J 

 the dorsal line of them slopes back a little, and then terminates with a 

 remarkable abruptness, which is observed in a less striking degree also 

 in the gayal. In our living gaour-calf, this character is less prominent 

 than might be expected, and the head is much less broad, and is 



* Vide figure in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society,' vol. vi. p. 748. 





