EXTINCT: MAMMALS ALLIED TO THE GIRAFFE 925 



OF THE SAMOTHERE. 

 (About one-sixth natural size.) 



In the samothere 

 of the Isle of Samos 

 and Persia, of which 

 the skull is shown in 

 the accompanying cut, 

 the fore and hind-limbs 

 are of nearly equal 

 length, and the fore- 

 head, owing to the ab- 

 sence of cells, is nearly 

 flat, while there is no 

 unossified space in front 

 of the eye. The eyes 

 were surmounted by a 

 pair of flattened bony 



processes, which there is some reason to believe were detached from the bones of the 

 forehead in the young state, and which may have been clothed either with skin or 

 with horny sheaths in the living condition. In many respects the skull of this ani- 

 mal approximates to that of the elk. 



By far the largest of all Ruminants was the gigantic Indian sivathere, whose 

 skull and limb bones rival 

 in magnitude those of the 

 biggest rhinoceroses. 

 The skull of this enor- 

 mous creature was very 

 short and wide, and, in 

 the male at any rate, car- 

 ried a pair of large antler- 

 like appendages, situated 

 immediately over the oc- 

 ciput, in addition to 

 which there was a pair of 

 simple spike-like horns 

 above the eyes. Al- 

 though the branched ap- 

 pendages of the skull SKUU, OF THE SIVATHERE. 

 recall the antlers of the (About one-sixth natural size.) 

 elk, it is evident that 



they were never shed, and it is, therefore, probable that they were covered during 

 life either with hairy skin or with horn. In any case, they were to a considerable 

 extent intermediate in their nature between the horns of the oxen and the antlers of 

 the deer. Other kindred types were the hydaspithere and the bramathere of India, 

 in both of which the appendages of the skull take origin from an elevated common 

 base rising above the forehead. In the former of these animals there was a large un- 

 ossified space in front of thereye, similar to that occurring in the giraffe and the deer. 



