b. U pp er A s s am R a c e -H B os b u b a l i s pui.vus
Bos bubalus fulvus, Blanford, Fauna Brit. India—Mamm. p. 492 (1891).
Characters.— Distinguished from the typical race by its uniformly dull
colour, the more convex forehead, and the shorter facial portion of the skull.
The race is definitely known by a mounted head in the Indian Museum,
Calcutta, and by a skull and horns, presented by Mr. A. O. Hume to the
British Museum.
Distribution.—-The upper districts of the Assam valley.
c. B ornean R a c e -H B os b u b a l i s hosei
Characters.— Size small, the height at the shoulder being about 3 feet
8-^ inches, with relatively short horns, which are continuous with the
plane of the forehead, without any backward curvature. General colour
ashy-black ; the lower lip, a narrow gorget on the throat, the fore-legs
from above the knees downwards, the front of the thighs and of hind legs
below hocksi except for a triangular patch on the fetlocks, dirty white.
This form is represented by a mounted specimen in the British Museum
sent by Mr. C. Hose from Borneo, purporting to be that of a wild animal.
In point of size and general appearance the specimen is almost exactly
intermediate between the typical Indian buffalo and the tamarau ; and
it agrees with many examples of the latter in the white gorget on the
throat. Mr. Hose mentions that buffaloes exist in a wild state on the
Miri and Baram rivers, and it is quite as probable that there should be a
native race of buffalo in Borneo as in the Philippines. Accordingly, the
present form is provisionally reckoned as such. It appears to be a much
smaller animal than the so-called B. kerabau, which has long horns,
no white gorget on the throat, and seems indistinguishable from the
domesticated Indian buffalo.
Distribution.— Borneo.
d. N a r b a d a R a c e -|§B os b u b a l i s p a l ^ indicus (Extinct)
Bos pahseindicus, Falconer, Cat. Foss. Vert. As. Soc. Bengal, p. 230 (1859),
Pa l. Mem. vol. i. p. 280, pi. xxii. (1868):.
Bujfelus palaindicus, Riitimeyer, Verh. Ges. Basel, ser. 2, vol. iv. p. 334
(1865), Denkschr. schweiz, Ges. vol. xxii. part 2, art. 3, p. 52 (1867), Abh.
schweiz. pal. Ges. vol. v. p. 189 (1878).
Bubalus palceindicus, Lydekker, Pal. Ind. (Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind.), ser. 10,
vol. i. p. 132, pi. xix. (1878) ; Riitimeyer, Abh. schweiz. pal. Ges. vol. v.
p. 14 1 (1878).
Bubalus namadicus, Dawkins, - Cave Hunting, p. 4 2^ (1 ^74)> nec
namadicus, Falconer, 1859.
Bubalus bujfelus palceindicufj Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus.
pt. ii. p. 28 (1885)-
Characters.— Very close to the typical race, but of larger dimensions,
with a more convex forehead, and the horns apparently always directed
to a great extent outwardly. In the horn-cores themselves the transverse
section is also somewhat different, tending to become quadrangular, instead
of being strictly triangular.
Distribution.— India during the Plistocene period ; found typically in
the ossiferous gravels of the Narbada river, but also occurring in those
of the Godavari and Pem Ganga. Buffalo skulls discovered in the topmost
Siwalik rocks of the Punjab probably also belong to the same form.
e. E urop ean R a c e—r-Bos b u b a l i s p a l l a s i (Extinct)
Bospallasii, Baer, Foss. Mamm. Prussia, p. 27 (1823).
Bubalus pallasii, Rdmer, Zeitschr. deutsch. geol. Ges. vol. xxvii. p. 435,
pj. xi. (1875) ; Riitimeyer, Verh. Ges. Basel, vol. vi. p. 320 ( iSyj), Abh.
schweiz. pal. Ges. vol. v. p. 143 (1878).