surface are mostly abraded. The Bubalus centralis of Gray is typified by a
skull in the British Museum (No. 65, 3, 30, 1), with the right horn
preserved, obtained from some part of West Africa.1 It belongs to a
younger bull, the point of the horn being sharp, and directed backwards.
A comparison of these two specimens shows that they certainly belong to
the same form ; the horns in both being quite different in shape from
those of the type of B. cajfer nanus, and much more like those of eequinoctialis.
Fig. 19.—Frontlet and horns of aged bull of the Senegambian Buffalo.' From the type specimen
in the British Museum.
A third pair of horns belonging to an adult (Fig. 20), although not aged,
bull, are in the possession of Sir R. B. Llewelyn, the Governor of the
Gambia, from which colony they were obtained. They are in a fine State
of preservation, with the points, sharp and slightly directed backwards ;
and are important as indicating that, the types of planiceros and centralis
were likewise obtained from Senegambia or the adjacent districts. 0
A young bull from Senegal mounted in the Paris Mustum appears
likewise referable to the present race, although it igllabelled B . pumilus.
On the fore-quarters the colour of the hair is reddish-brown, but elsewhere
1 In the Hand-list of 1873, erroneously stated to have been collected by Dr. Baikie.
on the body the tint is darker than in nanus, while the muzzle and limbs
are lighter ; there is no black mane along the neck, and the fringe on the
margin of the ears is leJwelongated, and the whole interior of the ears
black. The horns are comparatively small, and from their immaturity
present np Very distinctive characters.
At the same time, it must be remarked that it is frequently very
difficult to distinguish immature examples of this race from specimens
qf nanus from Sierra Leone, where the horns never seem to attain the form
*':c* 20- Frontlet and horns of male Senegambian Buffalo, From a specimen shot on
the Gambia in the possession of Sir R. B. Llewelyn.
characteristic of adult males from the Congo. This is confirmed by
Monsieur Pousargues, who remarks that in the Western Sudan and Upper
lp|lj|nea there occurs a blackish-brown buffalo regarded by some zoologists
as a mere variety o ï pumilus «Ê nanus), but by others as a distinct species
under the name of centralis. That it intergrades both with the northern
form of nanus and with planiceros, I have, as already stated, little doubt;
and i f this be so*, it certainly cannot rank higher than a sub-species.
Distribution.— The interior of Senegambia, Upper Guinea, and the
French Sudan— that is to say, to the north and east of the typical West
African forest region.