CRANIA OR RUMINANTS FROM THE INDIAN TERTIARIES. 29— IIG 
ters that species agrees very closely with typical forms of Bos, and cannot be separated 
from that genus. From the convexity of the frontals in that species, the orbits were 
of necessity somewhat depressed below the plane of the median line, though not to 
•the same extent as in the present species. With regard, therefore, to the convexity 
of the frontals, I cannot consider this character if taken alone, as sufficient cause for 
subgeneric distinction. Again, with regard to the form of tlie occipital surface, 
Mr. Hodgson' in his Memoir on the genera of Indian cattle, describes the occiput 
of the genus Bos as not being indented by the temporal fossae ; this, however, as we 
have seen in the instance of the Nerbudda Bos namadicus, is not universally the case, 
and therefore not of generie value. The small size of the indentations, however, 
and their position, does appear to be qf value. Looking at the position of the 
occipital crest and the indentations of these fossae in the present specimen, and 
comparing them with the crania of other figured species of the Oxen, we can only find 
any resemblance to the occiput of our species among the crania of the restricted 
genus Bos. At the same time, in no other species does the erest extend so high 
up on the oceipital surface, or possess the same triangular shape, as in the present 
species ; if, however, the summit of the occipital crest of Bos namadicus formed a 
somewhat higher arch, and were consequently narrower, then the form of the occiput 
in the two species would not be so very dissimilar. The occipital crest of this speeies 
overhangs the infra-eristal surface of the occiput in a manner only found among the 
species of the restricted genus Bos ; the rounding-off of the supra-eristal portion of 
the oeciput is a character approaching the Bubaline type, but the other characters 
do not bear this out. The basi-occipital is very similar to that of Bos taurus. 
The approximation of the superior angles of the bases of the horn-cores is a 
eharaeter which, though not belonging to the genus Bos, is equally divergent from 
the same part in any other genus, though there is an approach to it in the fossil 
Buhalus platyceros deseribed below ; this, however, is not a eharaeter of much 
value in generic distinctions, being one whieh varies considerably with age even in 
individuals of the same species. The position of the apex of the nasals at the lower 
border of the orbit is a minor characteristic of the eranium of Bos. 
Taking the interval between the external angles of the oecipital condyles of 
the typical form of Bos namadicus as a standard of comparison, we find that this 
interval falls considerably short of half the width of the occiput measured through 
the foramen magnum, and is also less than the interval between the lower border of 
the foramen magnum and the summit of the occipital crest, showing that the occiput 
is both narrower and higher than in other forms. On comparing the measurements 
of this speeimen with those of Bos namadicus, given above, we find that the 
interval between the inter-cornual ridge and the apex of the nasals is the same 
in both ; the forehead of this species is, however, one inch wider at the orbits, and 
is probably the largest cranium of all the fossil species. 
* Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. X, p. 449. 
