Species of Bovine Animals. 



6557 



coast of Africa.* Those of Circassia, as we were informed by the late 

 J. Stanislaus Bell, " agree with the Italian in their highly-bornbed 

 forehead and ponderous conformation, as also in the abundance of 

 excellent milk afforded by the cow (often for two years, as I was 

 assured) ; but the horns — especially those of the female — are very long, 

 incline backwards, and are much curved, annulated and serrated : 

 attitude that of the Indian buffalo ; the tail with its terminal tuft not 

 reaching above half-way to the ground. The young are of a dusky 

 brown ; but the full-grown are almost invariably black, without a single 

 spot of white; and their stature exceeds considerably that of the largest 

 European [taurine] cattle." We recognise in this description an animal 

 similar to the tame buffalo of the Nilgiris. 



According to a writer in the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine,' " there is 

 a wide difference observable between the buffaloes in and about Behar, 

 and those found near Titilaya : the former have invariably very thick 

 but short horns, the latter (as invariably) remarkably large spreading 

 ones and another writer in the same work pourtrays the horns of 

 the wild buffalo of Asam, as contrasted with that of the Sunderbans.f 

 These races are the B. macroceros and B. speiroceros of Mr. Hodgson. 

 In the former the horns proceed out almost straightly, with a somewhat 

 abrupt hook inward towards the end ; in the latter they curve uniformly 

 throughout, or very nearly so, to form a flat semicircle, with the usual 

 slight tendency backward at the extreme tip. The horns of the fossil 

 buffalo of the Nerbudda deposits (Bos palaindicus of Cautley and 

 Falconer) have again another flexure, inclining backwards, outwards, 

 and somewhat upwards, in a sweeping curve. In all, the cow-horns 

 are more slender, and not unfrequently much longer, than in the 

 bull.* 



* " Bullocks, cows, and water-buffaloes are to be had at Zanzibar, but are seldom 

 or never killed for food ; they are used to carry loads (but not for draught), and are as 

 dear as 50 dollars each." — 'Journal Royal Geographical Society,' vol. xxiii. p. 107. 



f 'Bengal Sporting Magazine' for September, 1836, p. 203, and ibid. October, 

 p. 231. 



I Of abnormal horns of the Indian buffalo, we have a drawing of a pair of cow- 

 horns (attached to the skull) from Southern India, the flexure of which is nearly that 

 proper to the horns of the CalTrarian taurine cattle, with the tips pointing outwards I 

 Distance apart from tip to tip 9 feet 5 inches. 



The late Mr. R. W. G. Frith, who was a very close observer, considered that there 

 are " two races of wild buffaloes in India, both of which are likewise found domesti- 

 cated. One, the Kachar bhainse, is distinguished by its greater height, having 

 longer limbs, by the general absence of hair at all seasons, and by its longer and 

 slighter horns, which vary iu form considerably more than those of the other. The 



