these "sporting buffaloes" sells
for a considerable sum.

The buffalo, like the elk, is sometimes found in Ceylon as an albino,
with purely white hair and pink iris. There is a peculiarity in the
formation of its foot, which, though it must have attracted attention, I
have never seen mentioned by naturalists. It is equivalent to an
arrangement that distinguishes the foot of the reindeer from that of the
stag and the antelope. In them, the hoofs, being constructed for
lightness and flight, are compact and vertical; but, in the reindeer,
the joints of the tarsal bones admit of lateral expansion, and the broad
hoofs curve upwards in front, while the two secondary ones behind (which
are but slightly developed in the fallow deer and others of the same
family) are prolonged till, in certain positions, they are capable of
being applied to the ground, thus adding to the circumference and
sustaining power of the foot. It has been usually suggested as the
probable design of this structure, that it is to enable the reindeer to
shovel under the snow in order to reach the lichens beneath it; but I
apprehend that another use of it has been overlooked, that of
facilitating its movements in search of food by increasing the
difficulty of its sinking in the snow.

A formation precisely analogous in the buffalo seems to point to a
corresponding design. The ox, whose life is spent on firm ground, has
the bones of the foot so constructed as to afford the most solid support
to an animal of its great weight; but in the buffalo, which delights in
the morasses on the margins of pools and rivers, the formation of the
foot resembles that of the reindeer. The tarsi in front extend almost
horizontally from the upright bones of the leg, and spread widely on
touching the ground; the hoofs are flattened and broad, with the
extremities turned upwards; and the false hoofs descend behind till, in
walking, they make a clattering sound. In traversing the marshes, this
combination of abnormal incidents serves to give extraordinary breadth
to the foot, and not only prevents the buffalo from sinking
inconveniently in soft ground[1], but at the same time presents no
obstacle to the withdrawal of his foot from the mud.

[Footnote 1: PROFESSOR OWEN has noticed a similar fact regarding the
rudiments of the second and fifth digits in the instance of the elk and
bison, which have them largely expanded where they inhabit swampy
ground; whilst they are nearly obli