Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos.Vasey, George
Science
Delineations of the Ox Tribe: The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes.: Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos.
Vasey, George
American bison; Buffaloes; Cattle; Oxen
"I should not venture to speak so positively upon this matter, had I
not indisputably ascertained the facts; for the Ras having subsequently
made me a present of three of these animals alive, I found them not only
in excellent health, but so exceedingly wild, that I was obliged to have
them shot. The horns of one of these are now deposited in the Museum of
the Surgeons' College, and a still larger pair are placed in the
collection of Lord Valentia, at Arley Hall. The length of the largest
horn of this description was nearly four feet, and its circumference at
the base twenty-one inches.
"It might have been expected that the animal, carrying horns of so
extraordinary a magnitude, would have proved larger than others
belonging to the same genus; but in every instance which came under my
observation, this was by no means the case. The etching on the following
page, which was copied from an original sketch (taken from the life),
may serve to convince the reader of this fact; and it will convey a
better idea of the animal than any description in writing I can pretend
to give. I shall only further observe, that its colour appeared to vary
as much as in the other species of its genus, and that the peculiarity
of the size of the horns was not confined to the male, the female being
very amply provided with this ornamental appendage to her forehead."
Notwithstanding the bold and confident tone of Mr. Salt's
counter-statement, it must be confessed, that the figure which he
himself gives from the life (and of which the frontispiece to this
volume is an exact copy), seems rather to coincide with Mr. Bruce's
account, being, to all appearance, both "lank and emaciated."
Engraving of the horns presented by Mr. Salt to the
Museum of the College of Surgeons.
[Illustration: Horns of Galla Ox.]
Ft. In.
Length of each round the outer curve 3 10-1/2
Distance between the tips 3 4
Circumference at the base 1 3
Distance between the bases at the forehead 0 3-1/2
The Sanga is usually considered as a mere variety of _Bos Taurus_. This
may possibly be the fact; but we have no proof whatever that it is so:
no information on this point has been presented beyond mere conjecture.
This being the case, and in the absence of direct anatomical evidence,
we may be pardoned in considering it, at least, as doubtful; especially
as there are so many points of external dissimilarity. The principal
differences are: 1st, in the shoulder, upon which there is a hump; 2d,
in the back, which descends (as in the Buffaloes and Zebus), abruptly
towards the tail; 3d, in the greater length of the legs; and 4th, in the
forehead, which is only three inches and a half between the bases of the
horns, whilst in the Common Ox it is nine inches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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