THE ZAMOUSE, OR BUSH COW.
Bos Brachyceros.
[The following extract, from the 'Annals of Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii, p. 284, is from the pen of Mr. J. E. Gray.]
"Captain Clapperton and Colonel Denham, when they returned from their expedition in Northern and Central Africa, brought with them two heads of a species of Ox, covered with their skins. These heads are the specimens which are mentioned in Messrs. Children and Vigors' accounts of the animals collected in the expedition, as belonging to the Buffalo, Bos Bubalus, and they are stated to be called Zamouse by the natives; but, as no particular locality is given for the head, this name is probably the one applied to the common Buffalo, which is found in most parts of North Africa.
"Having some years ago compared these heads with the skull of the common Buffalo, Bos Bubalus, and satisfied myself, from the difference in the form and position of the horns, that they were a distinct species, in the 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' for 1837 (new series, vol. i, p. 589), I indicated them as a new species, under the name of Bos Brachyceros.
"In the course of this summer (1838), Mr. Cross, of the Surrey Zoological Gardens, received from Sierra Leone, under the name of the Bush Cow, a specimen which serves more fully to establish the species. It differs from the Buffalo and all other oxen in several important characters, especially in the large size and particular bearding of the ears, and in being totally deficient in any dewlap. It also differs from the Buffalo in its forehead, being flatter and quite destitute of the convex form which is so striking in all the varieties of that animal.
"Mr. Cross's cow is, like the head in the Museum, of a nearly uniform pale chesnut colour. The hair is rather scattered, and nearly perpendicular to the surface of the body. The legs, about the knees and hocks, are rather darker. The ears are very large, with two rows of very long hairs on the inner side, and a tuft of long hairs at the tips. The body is short and barrel-shaped, and the tail reaches to the hocks, rather thin and tapering, with a tuft of long hairs at the tip. The chest is rounded and rather dependent, but without the least appearance of a dewlap; and the horns nearly resemble those of the Museum specimen, but are less developed, from the sex and evidently greater youth of the animal. The Rev. Mr. Morgan informs me that the animal is not rare in the bush near Sierra Leone.
"I have added a slight sketch of Mr. Cross's animal, which I hope will enable any person to distinguish this very distinct and interesting addition to the species of this useful genus."
The engraving at the head of this article is a reduced copy of Mr. Gray's figure just alluded to. The following representation of the head is from a specimen in the British Museum.
