Part 14

In a paper on the Gour, by General Hardwicke, ('Zoological Journal,' Vol. III,) he introduces the following observations on the Gayal: "Of the Gayal (Bos Gavaeas of Colebrooke) there appears to be more than one species. The provinces of Chatgong and Sylhet produce the wild, or, as the Natives term it, the Asseel Gayal, and the domesticated one. The former is considered an untameable animal, extremely fierce, and not to be taken alive. It rarely quits the mountain tract of the south-east frontier, and never mixes with the Gobbay, or village Gayal of the plains. I succeeded in obtaining the skin, with the head, of the Asseel Gayal, which is deposited in the Museum of the Hon. East-India Company, in Leadenhall Street." [A drawing was taken of this head, of which the engraving on the opposite page is a copy.]

"I may notice another species of Gayal, of which a male and female were in the Governor General's park, at Barrackpore. This species differs in some particulars from the domesticated Gayal, and also from the Asseel, or true Gayal; first, in size, being a larger animal than the domestic one; secondly, in the largeness of the dewlap, which is deeper and more undulated than in either the wild or tame species; and, thirdly, in the size and form of the horns."

Thus, according to the opinion of General Hardwicke, there are three distinct species of the Gayal; but in this matter nothing can be decided without further evidence, which we hope will soon appear in the shape of complete skeletons, and accurate drawings and descriptions.

THE TAME OR DOMESTIC GAYAL.

The representation of the Gayal here given was taken from a living specimen in the Zoological Gardens, 1846.

The scanty information I was able to glean concerning it, consists in its having been procured at Chitagong, and shipped, as a commercial speculation, from Calcutta for London, in January 1844, when about two years and a half old. It remained in the Zoological Gardens till the summer of 1846, when it died from inflammation of the bowels, brought on chiefly by eating too much green food.

I had the above particulars from Mr. Bartlett, naturalist, &c., who had been commissioned to dispose of it. He preserved the skeleton, which he kindly allowed me to examine, and from which I made the sketches of the skull and horns, which appear on the following page.

The skeleton has fourteen pairs of ribs.

Inches.

Distance from tip to tip (a to a) 39 Length of horn (a to b) 16 Circumference of horn at base 17 Distance of bases (b to b) 11 Length of skull (c to c) 19

Fig. d, section of the horn, at the base.

In concluding these details of the Gayal and Gyall, let it be remarked that, when we hear one animal called Gayal and another Gyall, we are not, on that account merely, to set them down as of the same species. It is hardly necessary to say, that similarity or even identity of name, is not the slightest criterion of identity of species. The name Elephant is popularly applied to that animal, whether brought from Africa or Asia; they are, nevertheless, anatomically distinct. The same observation may be made respecting the Lions of those countries, and various other animals.

It may further be observed, that the value of external characters in determining a species is very different when applied to ascertain the distinctions of domestic races, to what it is when applied to ascertain the distinctions of animals living in a natural state. In domestication, varieties ramify to an indefinite extent, and under such circumstances external characters are comparatively valueless. But wild animals retain their external characters with undeviating exactness; exceptional cases may indeed occur, but so very rarely, that they are not worth taking into the account; consequently, external forms, and in some cases even colours, become of importance in ascertaining specific distinction.

THE JUNGLY GAU.

Bos Sylhetanus. (Cuv.)

Further information is requisite to decide the specific character of this animal. According to the opinion of Col. Smith, (see 'Synopsis of the Species of Mammalia' in Griffith's Translation of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom,) it is a mere variety of the Gayal (Bos Gavaeus); and Mr. J. E. Gray, in his 'List of the Specimens of Mammalia in the Collection of the British Museum,' classes it as a domestic variety of the same animal, but Mr. Fred. Cuvier regards it as an entirely new species.

The following account of the Jungly Gau (which is the only one that has been published), is a translation from the splendid folio work of Messrs. St. Hilaire and F. Cuvier.

This species of Ox, which is entirely new, appears to be the most nearly allied to our domestic cattle. Those ruminants which are classed under the generic name of Ox, may be very naturally divided into two distinct groups. The first includes the Buffaloes, animals in some measure aquatic, living in low, swampy localities, or near rivers, in which they remain half immersed a great part of the day; having broad-based horns, partly spreading over their foreheads, flat on their internal side, and round on their external; tongue soft, &c. The second is that of the Ox, properly so called. These are distinguished from the first by their dwelling on more elevated lands, or in the vicinity of forests; having smooth round horns, without enlargement at their base; tongue covered with horny papillae, &c.

It is to this second family, consisting of the American Bison, the Aurox, the Yak, and the domestic Ox, with its varieties, that the Jungly Gau undoubtedly belongs. It however differs from the first two in being entirely destitute of the thick shaggy mane; and, instead of the long silky hair of the third, it is clothed with close, short hair, equal in uniformity of texture to the sleekest of our domestic cattle. To judge from its general appearance, we might be even tempted to take it for a mere variety of the domestic species, so close is the resemblance. But the information furnished by M. Alfred Duvaucel, in the only description which has been given, leaves no doubt as to its being a new species.

The following is M. Duvaucel's account:--"The horns of the Jungly Gau rise from the sides of the occiput, first outward, then forward, with a slight inclination backward of the upper extremity, forming a double lunation, and separated by a space which gradually diminishes as the animal grows older; standing equally apart in every individual of the same age and sex; are round, except at their base, which is slightly compressed; and they become smoother as the animal advances in age.

"The hump, which is characteristic of the generality of Indian oxen, is reduced in this to a slight prominence, extending to the middle of the back, and is covered with a grayish, woolly hair, rather longer than that on the other parts of the body, which spreads likewise over the occiput and the front. The rest of the hair is black except the legs, which are white from the knees downwards. The tail terminates in a large tuft of hair; and, in bulls of two or three years old, the under part of the neck is slightly furnished with long, black, silky hair.

"The female is smaller than the male, with horns of a still less proportionate size. The front of the head, instead of being convex, as in the male, appears to be slightly depressed, in consequence of the superior elevation of the muzzle. The colour of the female is not so deep a black; the gray on the top of the neck and the shoulders extends to the sides, and the inferior part of the muzzle is white.

"I have long entertained the opinion," continues M. Duvaucel, "that these oxen were essentially the same as the domestic--that they were both varieties of the same species; but this opinion was formed on the inspection only of such specimens as I had seen in the menagerie at Barracpour. Since that time, I have pursued them myself near the mountains of Sylhet; and I have likewise learned from various sources that they are as numerous and as generally diffused as the common Buffalo; but they appear to be wilder than the Buffalo, and not so bold, never approaching where man has established his dominion. Nevertheless, when caught, they are easily subdued, and become quite domesticated in a few months. The milk of this species is said to be more abundant and nourishing than that of any other."

From all that is at present known respecting this animal, it is regarded by M. F. Cuvier as a new species added to the genus Bos; and, from the circumstance of its having been first seen in a wild state near the mountains of Sylhet, he has given it the specific name of Sylhetanus.

The animal represented in the following vignette is the Syrian Ox, which is considered as a variety of Bos Taurus.

THE BUFFALO.

The animal generally known under the name of the Common Buffalo is evidently a different species from the Cape Buffalo. Much confusion, however, prevails in the accounts, both of travellers and naturalists, on the subject of these two animals. Descriptions of the one are mingled with descriptions of the other, and anecdotes are related of the one which, there is good reason for believing, ought to be referred to the other. It is highly probable that future and more accurate observations will show that more than one species has been confounded under the general epithets of "the common Buffalo," "the domestic Buffalo," "the tame Buffalo," or, more indeterminate still, "the Buffalo."

The accounts furnished by travellers of the various animals in Asia and Africa, described by them as Buffaloes, are altogether vague and unsatisfactory, and frequently erroneous; not from any desire on the part of the authors to deceive, but merely because their observations have been made in the most careless and indifferent manner; and, in many instances, their information is obtained from the verbal communications of ignorant natives.