and flanks ; chest and upper part of fore-legs light grayish-brown ; forelegs
from knees downwards blackish-brown ; long hairs on margins'of ears
brown, longer in the cows than in bulls ; tail-tuft black. Horns of the
same general type as in the Cape race, but relatively shorter, not greatly
exceeding the skull in length, separated in both sexes, except sometimes on
the extreme vertex of the head, by a broad hairy space between their bases/
which are very much flattened ; spreading at first almost horizontally
outwards, and sometimes retreating less behind the plane of the eyes ; the
bases not developed into prominent bosses. Pits on forehead of skull very
small and almost concealed by overhanging plates of bone.
Apart from skulls, I am acquainted with this race by a mounted
specimen from Abyssinia in the British Museum, by a skeleton from
Abyssinia in the same collection, and by the figure of the head of an
example formerly living at Berlin given by Sir V. Brooke in plate xlii.
of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for the year 1873, under the
name of B . pumilus. In the British Museum mounted specimen the
hair on the body is thicker than I should have inferred to be the case from
Sir V. Brooke’s description. From planiceros the present race appears
distinguishable by its darker colour, and the darker brown hairs on the
margin of the ears.
The following dimensions of horns are recorded by Mr. Rowland
Ward
Greatest Width.
Outside. Inside.. Tip to Tip
40 3 7 32
39 3 6J 3 4 2
3 6 29 2 4 32 28 22
3 i f 28| 2 5 t
3 4 2 6^ 2 I |
3 i | 26! 24I
3 ° i 23 2 0 t
Front Surface. Locality.
I l | J Abyssinia
? Sudan
? E. Africa
( Bur^ Country
4 Settiti River
9i ?
? Abyssinia
8 i Sudan
Distribution.—From Abyssinia and the south of Somaliland through the
Sudan for a long distance up the White Nile. The habits of this race are
probably not essentially, i f in any respect, different from those of its cousin
of the Cape.
c. Se n e g a m b ia n R a c e—Bos c a f f e r plan ic ero s
Bubalus planiceros, Blyth, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 157.
Bubalus centralis, Gray, Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 1 1 (1872), Handlist
Ruminants Brit. Mus. p. 1 1 (1873); Matschie, Saugethiere Togogebietes,
p. 19 (1893) ; Pousargues, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. ser. 7, vol. iv. p. 87 (1897).
CharactersWjfiPhz. West African representative of the preceding race,
to which it is closely allied, and with which it probably intergrades in the
central districts of equinoctial Africa, as it also does with the Congo race
in the hinterland of Sferra Leone. Size Somewhat smaller than in the last
race. Horns very similar to those of aquinoctialis, but shorter, directed less
outwardly (forming an angle of about 45 degrees with the middle
line of the skull), receding to a less extent behind the plane of the eyes,
and in very old bulls closely approximated at their bases. General colour
of adult bulls dark blackish-brown, becoming lighter on the hind-quarters,
thighs, and muzzle ; limbs coloured like body ; no distinct black muzzle ;
ears black inside, with the marginal fringe moderately developed.
Younger bulls, and probably cows, with the hair longer and lighter
coloured, assuming a brownish-red tinge on the fore-quarters. Pits on
forehead of skull small.
The type of the Bubalus planiceros of Blyth is the frontlet and horns of
a very old bull, formerly preserved at King’s College, London, but now in
the British Museum. There is no record as to the place of origin of this
specimen, which iicihown in the accompanying figure. The points of the
horns are so worn as to be blunt and rounded, and the- rugosities upon their