| Partial to water and mud, swampy localities. |
| Semi-aquatic in its habits,—sometimes called the Water Buffalo. |
| Fond of wallowing in mire, and swims well. |
| Lives much in the water, and feeds on aquatic plants. |
| Ranges in mountain forests, and feeds on leaves and buds of trees. |
| Migratory in its habits—fond of bathing in marshy swamps. |
| Lives chiefly on the woody banks of rivers—feeds on bark of trees, lichens, and herbaceous plants. |
| Feeds on the short herbage peculiar to the tops of mountains and bleak plains. |
| Lives chiefly on rocky mountains. |
| Delights in the deepest jungles—feeds on leaves and shoots of brushwood. |
| Lives entirely on woody-mountains—feeds on shoots and shrubs. |
| Half domesticated. |
| Domesticated, and artificially fed. |
| So completely domesticated, as to be subject to an endless variety of diseases, and generally requires medical attendance. |
THE INDEFINITE DEFINITIONS OF COL. HAMILTON SMITH.
On commencing this Monograph of the Genus Bos, I entertained the confident expectation, that in the voluminous work of Cuvier's 'Animal Kingdom,' translated and enlarged by Griffith and others, I should find all that related to generic and specific distinction so clearly exhibited, and so systematically arranged, that I should have no hesitation in adopting the classification there set forth, and no difficulty in determining the place of any new species or variety. With this expectation I diligently studied that portion of Col. H. Smith's volume on the Ruminantia, which treat of the Genus Bos, and I here subjoin (verbatim) the generic and subgeneric characters there given of that Genus, by which it will be seen how far they fall short of the clearness and precision which are indispensable to a scientific work.
GENERIC CHARACTERS.
"Genus BOS.—Skull very strong, dense about the frontals, which are convex, nearly flat, or concave; horns invariably occupying the crest, projecting at first laterally; osseous nucleus throughout porous, even cellular; muzzle invariably broad, naked, moist, black; ears, in general, middle sized; body long; legs solid; stature large."
Generic characters should be such as will apply to every species in the genus; they should likewise be such as will distinguish the genus described from every other genus. From such observations as I have been enabled to make, the five last-mentioned characters do not appear to accord with either of these conditions.
1st. The muzzle is stated to be black; but in the Yak, and in domestic cattle (as may be observed by any one), the muzzle is very frequently white; and granting that it was invariably black, other genera of the ruminantia have the muzzle black: and therefore it cannot be said to be a distinguishing mark of the Genus Bos.
2d. The ears are stated to be in general middle-sized. To pass over the extreme vagueness of the terms "in general" and "middle-sized," I may state that having measured the ears of several species, I find them to be of all lengths, varying from 5 inches to nearly 18 inches. Such a term as "middle-sized" may be applied "in general" to the ears of a vast variety of animals; and therefore it cannot be applied in particular to the Genus Bos.
3d. The body is said to be long. They are, indeed, of all lengths, from 4 ft. 6 in. to nearly 11 ft. Can the term long be equally applicable to animals of such different lengths?