SOME EXTINCT CATTLE 
265 
features the type skull of this species approximates 
to that of the short-horned African buffaloes, and 
appears to indicate a long-horned gigantic ancestral 
relative of that group. Three years later Mr. P. 
Thomas ^ took, however, a somewhat opposite view, 
remarking that, apart from certain details, the skull 
of the extinct species is very like that of the modern 
Indian buffalo ; while, on the other hand, the 
skeleton of the body is much nearer that of the 
A Prehistoric Sketch of the Extinct North African 
Buffalo 
Cape buffalo. And he adds that if a large arna 
skull was affixed to the skeleton of a Cape buffalo, 
we should have an animal closely resembling the 
fossil Bos antiquus. 
In my own opinion, Rutimeyer's view is more 
probably correct ; and if so, there may be reason 
for regarding the modern short-horned buffaloes of 
Africa as degraded types (see p. 237). 
In an article on the Morocco-Algerian frontier, 
contributed to the Field of 15th July 191 1, Sir H. H. 
^ Bull. Soc. Zool. France^ 1 88 1 , p. 30 et seq. 
