306 EXTINCT GIRAFFES 



specialised animal than its forerunner of the Miocene. In the 

 latter, the male aloue carried horns, and in neither sex does 

 the unpaired median bony excrescence appear. The remains of 

 this genus (probably even the same species, S. hoissicri) also occur 

 in Persia. 



Helladotlicriiim (there is but one species, H. durernoyi) has 

 its four limbs of nearly the same length ; the skull of the only 

 known example is hornless ; the neck is shorter than in G'iraJJ'a. 

 It is known from the Miocene deposits of Pikermi in (Ireece. 



Palaeotragus is a genus which is not referred to the Giraffidae 

 by all systematists. Its very name, given to it Viy the eminent 

 French palaeontologist M. Gaudry, indicates his opinion as to its 

 Antelopine affinities. The chief and indeed (according to Forsyth 

 Major ^) the only reason for placing this Euminant with the Ante- 

 lopes is the large size of the horns. They undoubtedly suggest 

 the horn cores of Antelopes. But they are placed wider apart than 

 in those animals. It is thought that the hornless Camelopardcdis 

 parva is the female of this species, which is from Pikermi. 



Eather more different from Giraffa is the extinct genus 

 Sivatherium, from tlie Siwalik deposits of India. Here again 

 there has been some discussion as to its affinities. Some place 

 it in the neighbourhood of Antiloca/pra, but most palaeontologists 

 now regard it as a Giraffe. The main peculiarity of this large 

 beast was the existence of two pairs of horn cores ; the larger are 

 upon the parietal bones, and are of a palmated form, with a few 

 short tines, which are highly suggestive of those of the Elk 

 (Alces). The shorter anterior pair are upon the frontal bones. 

 The neck is short, the limbs of equal length, and there are no 

 additional toes upon the limbs. Sivatherium was almost as large 

 as an Elephant, and in restorations it is depicted as having a 

 fleshy dilated nose like the Saiga Antelope ; this view is based 

 upon the position and size of the nasal bones. Hornless skulls 

 have been identified as the female of Sivatherium. 



Vishnutheriuvi, Hydraspotlierium, and Bramatheriiim are 

 allied genera. 



Fam. 8. Antilocapridae. — This family contains but one genus 



and species, the N. American " Pronghoru," An,tiloca2ira americana. 



This animal deserves a family to itself on account of the singular 



structure of the horns, which are intermediate in character 



1 Forsyth Major, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1891, p. 315. 



