THE ANCESTRY OF DOMESTICATED CATTLE. 
195 
Leptobovine group apparently contained only one species, the last 
member of the group, Bos fraseri^ and even this is imperfectly known, 
as only few fossils have been found in the Narbada Valle}^, India. 
It resembles Bos falconeri in most respects, but also must be closely 
allied to the banting, because the horn cores are situated some dis- 
tance below the vertex of the skull. 
In the Pleistocene epoch the Taurine group is represented by Bos 
taurus mauritanicus and Bos namadicus. Bos taurus mauritanicus^ 
so named b}^ Thomas, is probably identical with Bos opisthonomus 
of Pomel, that lived in Algeria and Tunis until historic times and 
may be only a variety of the European wild ox. Bos primigenius^ from 
which it can be distinguished only by a shorter forehead, larger and 
Fig. 10. — Skulls of Algerian buffalo (upper figure) and Bos ociitifrons (lower figure). 
(From Lydekker.) 
more slender limbs, and with horn cores Avhich curved less forward 
but more doAvnward. Bos namadicus, the Narbada ox (fig. 11), first 
described by Falconer and later called paleogarus by Riitimeyer, is 
one of the best known species of extinct Indian oxen. It is so closely 
allied to Bos primigenius that it is now considered as the Asiatic and 
probably older form of primigenius. In some specimens the horn 
cores are somewhat flattened at the base, which shows a close rela- 
tionship to the Bibovine type. Lydekker suggests that it may have 
been the ancestor of both the Bibovine and Taurine types, and at the 
same time a descendant of Bos acutifrons. Bos namadicus was a 
contemporary of early man in India during the Old Stone period 
and has recently been found in the lowest layers of the deposits at 
