^— 



ORDER UNGULATA. 



1351 



allied to the existing African Buffaloes, although Dr P. Thomas 

 thinks it is more nearly related to the living Indian species. The 

 latter (B. buffelus) is found in a fossil state in the Pleistocene of the 

 Narbada Valley, India ; while an apparently closely allied form also 

 occurs in the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills. In Bison, now repre- 

 sented by the Aurochs of Lithuania (B. bonasus) and the nearly 

 exterminated North American Bison americanus, the skull is charac- 

 terised by its great relative width and shortness, the tubular orbits, 

 the moderately convex forehead, and the curved, round, horn-cores, 

 which are placed considerably below the level of the occiput. The 

 existing European species is represented by a variety (priscus) in 

 the Pleistocene of Europe and Arctic America ; while the gigantic 

 B. latifrons of the Pleistocene of Texas may probably be looked 

 upon as the progenitor of the recent species of that country. A 

 cranium from the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills has been referred to 

 this genus with the name of B. sivalensis, and appears to be allied to 

 existing forms. The genus Bos, which is confined to the Old World, 

 is the most specialised representative of this section, and may be 

 divided into the Bib ovine and Taurine groups. In the former are in- 

 cluded the wild Oxen of India and Burma, which are characterised by 



Fig. 



[223. — Cranium of the Urus, Bos ta?trus, var. primige7iius, Pleistocene. 

 Much reduced. 



the more or less flattened horn-cores, and by certain peculiarities in 

 the form of the occipital region. The earliest representative of this 

 group is Bos etruscus from the Upper Pliocene of the Continent, in 

 which the horn-cores are placed very low down on the frontals ; this 

 species being considered to be nearly related to B. banting of Burma. 

 A more imperfectly known member of this group is B. paltzogaurus 

 of the Pleistocene of India, which may turn out to be identical with 

 vol. 11. 2 G 



