20 



GREAT GAME ANIMALS. 



[Cases 

 41 & 44.] 



Asiatic Buffa'oes. 



[Pavilion 

 at end of 

 Lower 

 Mammal 

 Gallery. 

 Case 44.] 



caffer (1037), the horns do not attain an excessive length, but in* 

 old bulls are so expanded and thickened at the base as to form a 

 helmet-like mass protecting the whole forehead. In Eastern Africa 

 the Buffaloes (B. caffer wquinoct talis, 1038) have smaller horns, 

 which do not meet in the middle line; and other local races have 

 been named. From the former, which is brown instead of black, 

 there seems to be a transition towards the red Dwarf Buffalo 

 (B. nanus, 1039) of West Africa. In South Africa Buffaloes 

 lrequen reedy swamps, where they associate in herds of from fifty to 

 a hundied or more individuals. Old bulls may be met with either 

 alone or in small parties of from two or three to eight or ten. The 

 typical Cape Buffalo, in addition to numerous skulls and horns, is 

 represented by a male and fen ale shot by Mr. F. C. Selous ; while 

 a male and female of the red Dwarf Buffalo are also shown, the 

 former presented by Mr. C. Beddington in 1900. 



In a wild state the typical form of the Indian 

 Buffalo (Bos \_hubulus] bubalis, 1043), seems 

 to be restricted to India and Ceylon, although some of the Buffa- 

 loes found in the Malay Peninsula and Islands probably represent 

 local races. The species has been introduced into Asia Minor^ 

 Egypt, Italy, and elsewhere. The large Mze and wide separation of 

 the horns, as well as the less thickly fringed ears, and the more 

 elongated and narrow head, form marked points of distinction 

 between the Asiatic and the A mean species. Moreover, all 

 Asiatic Buffaloes are distinguished from the African species by 

 having the hair on the lore part of t e back directed forward. 

 The haunts of the Indian Buffalo are the grass-jungles near 

 swamps, in which the ^rass exceeds twenty eet in height. Here 

 the BufJaloes — like the Ioaian Rhinoceros — form covered path- 

 ways,^ which they art- completely conceal, d. The herds frequently 

 include fifty or more individuals. These animals are fond of 

 passing the day m marshes : they are by no means shy, and do much 

 harm to the crops. There are at least two races of the Indian wild 

 Buflalo; one, the ordinary form with much curved horns, and the 

 other, B. bubulis macrocerus, with the horns extending almost 

 straight outwards for the greater part of their length, and very 

 long. Of tms Assam race, now apparently extinct, the skulls and 

 horns of a bull and cow are exhibited un the top of the Wild Ass 



