788 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
No. 1.— EDITORS’ AND READERS’ COIVIMENTS ON ARTICLES AND 
NOTES WHICH HAVE APPEARED IN PREVIOUS NUMBERS. 
The Tsaine (Bos banteng). 
(Vol XXVIII, No. 2. Misc. Note No. 6.) 
In his Catalogue of Ungulate Mammals Lydekker recognises 5 races of the 
Banting or Tsaine (Bos banteng) (Bos sondaicus of Blanford). 
The range of the animal is given as “ Java, Borneo, probably Sumatra, Bali ; 
apparently a portion of the Malay Peninsula, Burma as far as the north of Pegu 
and Arrakan and thence through the hiUs of Chittagong to Manipur, Siam and 
Cochin China.” 
The typical race (Bos banteng banteng) is from Java. Lydekker describes 
the colour of the adult bull as blackish brown to black, with face similar to the 
back, and the white rump patch very large and contrasting strongly with the 
dark area. The Bornean Banting (B. banteng lowi) is said to be more or less 
identical in colour with the Javan form. 
Lydekker distinguishes the Northern races from the two above described 
mainly by the white rump patch which is very much more developed in the Javan 
and Bornean races and by the colour of the adult buUs. 
In the Burmese Banting or Tsaine (B. banteng birmanicus) the colour of the 
old buU is given as “ dark tawny or chestnut appearing darker in some hghts 
than in others and shading to hght brown below. Very old bulls apparently 
become darker”. The white rump patch is described as covering a smaller 
area than in the Javan and Bornean races being confined to the hind surface of 
the buttocks and thighs. 
In the Siamese race (B. banteng porteri) (described from two fragmentary 
specimens) the colour is stated to be brown, flecked with white in contradis- 
tinction to the Burmese in which the body colour is said to be uniform. 
The Malayan Banting (B. b. butteri) is considered in all probability to be a 
feral race of the domesticated Bah Banting (which is largely imported into 
Singapore). The bulls are described as ‘ blackish ’. 
The last race mentioned by Lydekker to which no sub speciflc has been attached 
is from Cochin China. 
An interesting commentary on the above might be obtained from Major 
(now Col.) J. P. Evans’ notes on the Tsaine in his book on Big Game shooting 
in Upper Burma (1911) in which Col. Evans goes somewhat into detail in refer- 
ence to the colouring of the Tsaine ; also from a letter received from Major 
Stockley on the subject. Commenting on the “ white rump patch ” which 
Lydekker cites as a point of difference between the Southern and Northern races 
of Banting. Major Stockley writes : — 
‘‘ Lydekker states that the rump patch is more developed in the Burmese. 
Siamese and Malayan races than in the Javan and Bornean. I am quite sme that 
individual variation is great in this respect and would fike to know how much 
material he had on which to base this differentiation. I also strongly suspect 
that the area of white on the buttocks and thighs decreases with age, as I have 
twice noticed yoimg bulls with the white area extending nearly all over the 
thighs : so much so that in one case, in which the bull was grazing tail on to me, 
I at first took him to be an animal of some new species.” 
As regards the colour of the body. Col. Evans, who has had considerable op- 
portunities of observing the Burmese Banting in a •ndld state, is of opinion that 
the cows and young bulls are of a bright chestnut with a white face, white 
stockings and a white patch on the buttocks. “ Young bulls have practically 
the same colour as the cows but often have white spots in the flanks which in 
