Capt. Cautley on a Fossil Ruminant allied to Giraffidae. 16? 



been able as yet to see any connexion of the sporules with 

 the wall of the thecae ; they appear to float loosely in the fluid 

 which surrounds them. If thecae in a very young state were 

 examined, some connexion might be found. 



Some of the lichens are considered to be closely allied to 

 certain forms of Algas, and Raspail, in his Organic Chemistry, 

 states his beUef that the colours of many marine Algae may be 

 owing to a peculiar combination of iodine w ith starch ; he also 

 states that he has succeeded in tinging lichens with iodine so 

 that they resembled some Algae. I am not aware of any of 

 the fungi which contain starch, in such a state, at least, as to 

 afford a blue colour with iodine : now it has been already 

 stated that the same is true regarding Boeomyces, and this ge- 

 nus has been considered to make a near approach to the fungi. 

 Sir J. E. Smith compares the fructification of Boeomyces ro- 

 seus to some minute Helvetia, 



XIX. — Note on a Fossil Ruminant Genus allied to Giraffidae 

 in the Siwalik Hills. By Capt. P. T. Cautley.* 



When we look at the number of species of Proboscidan Pa- 

 chydermata which swarmed in the primaeval forests ; when we 

 see that in the present day nature appears to have left but so- 

 litary species to attest the gigantic form of primitive existence, 

 the imagination naturally places before our eyes forms of cor- 

 responding magnitude in other genera ; we picture to ourselves 

 gigantic Ruminants and gigantic Carnivora only to be revealed 

 by the remains which nature has placed in her own keeping 

 to exhibit to inquiring man the wisdom of design and the 

 systematic chain of organization established throughout the 

 Avhole of the animal kingdom. 



Amongst the Ruminants the discovery of the Sivatherium 

 giganteum has most amply tended to prove the truth of this 

 induction, exhibiting a ruminating animal bearing the same 

 proportion to the rest of its genus as the Mastodon and Ele- 

 phant do to that of the Pachydermata. Amongst the Carni- 

 vora we have the Ursus Sivalensis, an animal far exceeding in 



* From the * Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' No. 79, 1838. 



