Oxen
name is not employed as the designation of the species. The late acquisition
of the blackish colour by the adult males of the typical race, and the
permanent retention of the red by both sexes of the second race and by
the cows of both, as well as the slighter and smaller horns, point to this
species -being a less specialised type than either the gayal or the gaur ;
and it is not improbably a near relation of the extinct Etruscan ox
described belowj|ll|ffi
The following horn-measurements of this species are recorded by Mr.
Rowland Ward:—
Length along
Outer Curve. Basal Circumference.. - Tip to Tip. Greatest Width Inside. Locality.
3° !7 ? ? Java
2 8 J 2 6 f 36f „
2 J | i 6 f 2C| 2 6 f Malay Peninsula
24i I2 i : 5i : . 24i Java
2 l f I2 i h i l 9 i Borneo
20 | l ! 2£ r 8 l 22i ... „
19 “ 4 1 8 2 l f Java
D l i o f r i I 4i Borneo
JD i ! 7 i - 2 o f Siam
i 6 J I o f 9 i T Borneo
Distribution.—Java, Borneo, probably Sumatra, Bali, the Malay Peninsula,
Burma as far as Northern Pegu and Arakan, thence apparently
through the hills to the east o f Chittagong to Manipur, Siam, and
probably other parts of the adjacent districts.
Very little has been recorded of the habits of the Javan race of the
banting, but some notes are given below relating to those of the Burmese
and Manipur races. Mr. Blanford remarks that, from the greater proportionate
length of its limbs, the banting is probably less addicted to
climbing rocky hills than the gaur, and is more restricted to the plains
of high grass; and this is confirmed by the observations recorded below.
a. J a v a n R a c e—Bos son d a icus t y p ic u s
CharacterWmizz large, the height at the shoulder reaching to 5 feet
9^- inches, or perhaps more. Old bulls -deep blackish-brown or black
on the upper-part^, with a large white rump-patch, and the face coloured
like the back ; somewhat younger bulls very dark chocolate-brown ;
young bulls and cows bright red-brown, also with the rump-patch and
lower part of the legs white ; tip of inner surface of ear and a line on the
lips white.
This race is represented in the British Museum by the bull from Java
already mentioned, which is one o f the specimens obtained at the same
time as the type. Where the hair still remains, it is very dark chocolate-
brown, becoming nearly black a little above the knees, but as the colour
has doubtless faded considerably, it is probable that it was originally almost
S la ck . As mounted, the specimen stands about 5 feet 3 inches at the
shoulder. I had an opportunitys of seeing the heads of two bulls from
Borneo in 1898 which were almost completely black, with the exception
of the above-mentioned white markings, but showed a tendency to rufous
j i l t below the eyes.
The late Mr. W. Davison, in a note in the Proceedings of the Zoological
Society for 1889 (p. 448) on the wild cattle of the Malay Peninsula, refers
to one.species under its native name of sapio, his description being as
follows :— “ It is black, but has the belly, the inner sides of both fore and
hind legs, and stockings chestnut ; the gray patch [of the gaur] on the
jbrehead is rusty, and the insides|#f the ears are strongly tinged with
chestnut. I have seen an old bii$, standing over 18 hands, with massive
horns, coloured thus ; and the'other day Dr. E. A. Travers shot in Jelebu
a young bull almost exactly the size~of the sladang (gaur) now sent, and it
was coloured exactly like the large bull. The quite young of this form