OXEN. 
20 3 
Indeed with some of the specimens from Central Equatorial Africa it is difficult to 
find constant characters by which they can be distinguished on the one hand from 
the typical niari, with widely-separated and slightly-flattened horns, and on the 
other from the northern variety of the Cape buffalo. Hence it is probable that 
the present species is in reality nothing more than a geographical race of the 
latter, reduced in size and otherwise modified by the difference in its habitat. We 
have indications of the commencement of such a modification in the case of the 
“ wood-bison ” of North America, and there is no reason why such modifications 
SHORT-HORNED BUFFALO, CONGO VARIETY liat. size). 
should not have been carried still further in the present instance. Horns of the 
typical short-horned buffalo range from 11 to 21 inches in length, with a basal 
girth of from 10 to 13 inches. The short-horned buffalo is found both in the plains 
and in the mountains of Western Africa, and appears to be far from uncommon. It 
possesses a speed almost equal to that of the larger antelopes; and when in thick 
cover is very difficult to drive out, except with the aid of dogs. Otherwise there 
does not appear to be anything specially noteworthy in its habits. 
It may be mentioned here that both in Algeria and at the Cape 
there are found in the superficial deposits skulls of buffaloes allied to 
