extreme cold that is known. But this is by no means all, since in many
parts of the world oxen are or were employed as beasts of burden or
draught, which in some respects are superior even to the horse ; and were it
not for the services o f the yak, it would be almost an impossibility to
traverse the high plateau o f Tibet and some other districts of Central
Asia. Several members of the group have been domesticated since very
early times, two of these having no wild representatives now living.
By many writers the oxen are divided into several genera, although, as
remarked by Mr. Blanford, such divisions seem scarcely worthy of that
rank. Moreover, zoologists are by no means in accord as to the number
of groups into which they should be divided. In the present work the
groups adopted are given the rank of sub-genera only.
i. T y p i c a l or T a u r in e G roupS - S ub- G en u s B os
Taurus, H. Smith, in Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, vol. v. p. 375 (1827),
as a sub-genus.
TJrus, H. Smith, op. cit. vol. iv. p. 4 17 (1827), as a sub-genus.
Zebus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxix. p. 282 (i860).
Characters.—Typically the horns quite or nearly cylindrical, situated far
apart from one another on a ridge forming the extreme vertex o f the skull,
which overhangs the proper occipital surface of the latter ; forehead of
skull flat and elongated, and a long interval between the bases of the horn-
cores and the sockets of the eyes, which are not tubular ; nasal bones
relatively elongated. Tail very long, reaching to below the hocks. Line
of back nearly straight. Hair uniformly short, and legs apparently without
white “ stockings.”
In the vertebral column the neural spine1 of the seventh or last
1 The neural spines are the tall vertical processes arising from the summits of the vertebras and
forming the ridge of the back ; the dorsal vertebrae are those to which the ribs are attached, the
cervicals being those in front and the lumbars those immediately behind them.
cervical vertebra is short, the spines of the dorsal vertebra are of moderate
height and slope regularly and slightly away to the lumbar vertebra, thus
producing the straight line of the back. The upward production of the
vertex of the skull so as completely to shut out the occipital surface in a
front view, and the abbreviation of the parietal zone, indicate that the
present and following groups are the most specialised of all the oxen ; but
as regards the vertebra the bison group is more advanced than the present
one.
Distribution.—At the present day non-existent in a wild condition, but
formerly ranging over the greater portion of the Eastern Holarctic and
some part of the Oriental regions.
1 . T h e C ommon O x— Bos t a u r o s
Bos taurus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 98 (1766).
This species being extinct as a wild animal can only be very imperfectly
described. There is no hump on the withers, the horns are
perfectly cylindrical, strongly curved, and situated on the extreme summit
of the occipital crest of the skull, the hinder surface o f which is very tall,
and without any distinct lateral notches. The cry is the well-known
“ low ” of the domestic breeds.
The case of species named from domesticated breeds is always a difficult
one as regards nomenclature ; and many writers refuse to adopt such name
for the original wild race, whether living or extinct. After consultation
with my friend Mr. O. Thomas, of the British Museum, I have, however,
come to the conclusion that* in the cases of the extinct European ox and
the living wild goat, it is preferable to retain the names originally given
to the domesticated breeds.
c