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Show 1883.] THE SECRETARY ON THE WILD OX OF ASSAM. 143 Assam. The animals in the Gardens are, as you state, Bos frontalis, and are never found in a wild state. They are the semi-domesticated animals owned by various tribes from Assam to Arracan along our eastern frontier. Their bond to their owners is, I must admit, but slight, as they are never made use of in any way, not even being milked, except that now and then on solemn occasions one is killed and eaten. They wander at will without a herdsman in the jungles adjacent to their owners' village, and at nightfall return to the village, where their owners reward them with some rock-salt; they remain in the village all night, and at early dawn again make for the jungles. This is their only tie to man ; yet, inasmuch as each individual animal is owned and can be identified by its master, and since as a rule they are so tame and docile that they will eat out of a man's hand, they cannot be called "wild." To a casual observer there may appear no difference between Bos gaurus (the Gaur) and Bos frontalis (the Gayal); but a careful inspection shows the formation of the skull and horns to differ, besides which the Gaur is the larger animal. I have lived some time in Cachar, and for seven years in the Chit-tagong hill-tracts, where both animals abound, during which time I have made it m y study to discover if Bos frontalis has ever been found in a wild state; and, after making large collections of skulls from all parts of the districts, after many and minute inquiries from different tribes, who themselves acknowledge the two varieties, and after repeated discussions with European sportsmen who know both animals and who have shot many a Gaur, I have arrived at the fact that there is no such thing as a wild Bos frontalis. I would not have ventured, though, to put this opinion before you, had not Dr. John Anderson, Curator of the Calcutta Museum, Secretary to the Calcutta Zoological Society, and who is one of the greatest authorities on Indian natural history, written to me that he had come to this conclusion. I know both animals well; and had there been a wild Bos frontalis, either I or m y numerous sporting friends (amongst whom is G. P. Sanderson, author of ' Thirteen Years amongst the Wild Beasts of India') would have found it and shot it. The skulls of the two kinds are so different that no mistake could be made. I have now by m e three or four. Over and above this, I am almost positive that the actual animals you have in the Gardens were two of five or six obtained through my influence from chiefs on the Chittagong hill-tracts for the Calcutta Gardens, as I was informed in Calcutta that they had been sent to England to you. This being so, I can assert that neither they nor their sires or dams have been wild for many generations. " Secondly, you write ' The Gayal is the Wild Ox of Assam, Sylhet, and the adjacent countries to the east of the Indian peninsula,' thereby clearly implying that the Wild Ox of Assam, which, as I have before said, is Bos gaurus, is not found except to the east of the Indian peninsula. It is too well known for there to be any argument on the subject, that besides Assam Bos gaurus is found in Cuttack, in the Madras presidency, and the Central Provinces; but of course this has nothing to do with Bos frontalis. Thirdly, though |