indicating separate sub-species. The following dimensions of horns are
recorded by Mr. Rowland Ward ; some of the specimens from Assam
possibly belonging to the next race:—
Length along
Outer Curve. Basal Girth.- Tip to Tip. Widest Inside. Sex. Locality.
77§ H i ? ? ? ?
. 7° i 18 64^ . 7 8 Female Assam
6 5 1 2o | ? ? ? „
644 l 8 44 66 Female „
63 l 8 . ? 60 Male „
62 BS§ IOI ? > „
6 i f H i 22-g- 45i * ? Kuch Behar
6 i j 16 22 48 Male Assam
C/i
CO
H 4 6 4 ' 59 Female ' „
57 ' l8 i 44 ? Central Provinces
57 . H 49 9 ? Assam
56 H i 3 3 ! 5° s Female Kuch Behar
56 m 554
OO
? „
554 l84 29 44 ? ?
544 1
CO 00
l£*|H
48 J ? - ?
Distribution. In a wild state, India, throughout the plains of the
Bramaputra and Ganges valleys from the eastern end of Assam to Tirhut,
the Terai as far west as Rohilcund, the plains in the neighbourhood of the
coast in Midnapur and Orissa, as well as the plains in the Eastern Central
Provinces, including the districts of Mandla, Raipur, Sambalpur, Bastar,
etc., at least as far south as the valleys of the Godaveri and Pranhita ;-also
the northern parts of Ceylon. In Burma and the Malay Peninsula and
Islands (inclusive of the Philippines and Celebes) buffaloes are found
indistinguishable from the present race, and some of which are now in a
wild condition. Whether, however, they have reverted to this state from
domesticity, or whether they are indigenous inhabitants of the country
they occur, is a moot point. Some of them have the legs whitish as far as
just above the knees and hocks, but a similar condition obtains in many of
the domesticated buffaloes of India. The Bos kerabau appears to have been
named on buffaloes of this type from the Malayan Islands which, judging
from the figure given by Brehm, can in no wise be distinguished from the
present race. In a half-wild domesticated condition buffaloes are now met
with in Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, and all Western Asia
as far as Afghanistan. It is generally considered that these European and
North African buffaloes have been introduced from India or other Oriental
countries, but it should be remembered that there is a Plistocene European
form to which it is just possible their ancestry may be traceable.
Habits.— In India the wild bull buffalo is properly known as the arna,
and the female as the arni ; but the animal is very commonly spoken of
as jangli bhains, or wild buffalo, bhains being the Hindustani term for the
domesticated breed. Other dialects have different titles for the wild race,
to which it will be unnecfjiary to allude on this occasion. Wild buffaloes
generally go ’about in herds of considerable size, and, like the domestic
breed, always carry their heads very low. The near neighbourhood of
pools or lagoon,s of water, in the mud of which they can wallow when so
disposed, is essential to their existence. They are consequently generally
found near swamps, and never frequent hilly ground. Brakes of reeds, or
the tallest and thickest grass-jungles are indeed their favourite haunts,
although they may occasionally be met with on plains covered with low
bushes or short grass, but it§Ji;yery rarely, i f ever, that they are met with
in true forest. Grass constitutes their chief nutriment; and, like most
members o f their tribe, their feeding-times are the early morning and
evening. During the heat of the day they sleep much, and it is said
that a bull buffalo i f roused from his midday slumber by beating with
elephanSis much more prone to charge than is one stalked on foot while
feeding. Doubtless this is largely due to surprise and fear, for it is a
well-known fact that the more suddenly a wild animal is roused the more
likely is it to prove dangerous. It, so' to speak, loses its head, and cannot