42 
MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 
part ill both sexes. Each born consists of a bony core (an extension 
of the frontal bone of the skull), surrounded by the fibrous horn- 
substance, which grows from the base, while it is worn away at the 
tip, and which is never dropped off entire. This horn is never 
branched, but consists of a single hollow stem, which in the dif- 
ferent species varies considerably both in shape and size, as may be 
seen by an examination of the fine series placed along the tops 
of the Cases in the Osteological Gallery. 
The most remarkable specimens of Wild and Domesticated 
Cattle are exhibited in the Saloon and the adjoining part of the 
Gallery, viz. : — The head of a Hungarian Bull, as a representative 
of the Common Domesticated Ox {Bus taurus), the numerous races 
of which have been produced partly by crossing originally wild 
species {Bos primigenius, Bos longifrons, Bos frontosiis), which 
now survive in their domesticated descendants only, and partly 
by artificial selection. A Brahmin Bull or Zebu {Bos indicus), 
the sacred Cattle of the Hindoos ; this specimen was bred 
from a pair presented by Her Majesty to the Zoological Society, 
and was thirteen years old at the time of its death in 188f. 
A pair of the Gaur {Bos ganrus), a native of North and Central 
India, almost untamable, and strong enough to hold its own against 
the Tiger. A Gayal {Bos frontalis), a species living domesticated 
in Assam and the neighbouring countries, but not known, at least 
in that region, to occur wild ; it is said by some authorities to be 
a modified domestic race of the Gaur, but by others, with more 
probability, to be a distinct species, of which wild specimens have 
been obtained in the mountains of Tenasserim. X Banteng {Bos 
sondaicus) , the indigenous Cattle of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. 
No specimen of the Common Buffalo {Bus buhahis) is exhibited at 
present; but numerous horns, showing the varieties of size and 
shape, are fixed on the wall of the Osteological Saloon. The 
Buffalo attains its greatest development in its original home, India, 
where one race (called the Ann) is armed with horns upwards of 
6 feet in length; it ranges into North Africa and South Europe. 
A pair of the wild Buffalo of South Africa {B. caffer) are ex- 
hibited, showing their enormously thick solid horns, the bases of 
which almost touch each other in the middle of the forehead. 
The European Bison or Wizent {B. honasus), originally a native 
of the large forests of Europe, now restricted to the Caucasus, whence 
