140 



THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



The family of the Giraffes appears for the 

 first time, represented by an actual giraffe, 

 in the Miocene strata of Pikermi. This type 

 accordingly then inhabited Europe. But at 

 Pikermi, as well as in the deposits of the 

 Sewalik Hills, which are perhaps a little 

 older, there are preserved also some gigantic 

 forms which are unquestionably allied to the 

 giraffe, and some of which must have been 

 very clumsy and unwieldy creatures; such, for 

 example, are the Helladotherium of Pikermi, 

 the Sivatherium and Bramatherium in India. 

 These forms are extremely curious, and 

 Sivatherium, for instance, had a skeletal 

 structure as heavy and clumsy as that of a 

 Rhinoceros. 



The Camels, finally, are traced back in the 

 Old World to the Miocene of the Sewalik 

 Hills. 



The primitive stocks have developed in 

 America in a manner generally analogous 

 to what we find in Europe, but differing in 

 the details. In this part of the world no 

 fossil remains have yet been found of giraffes, 

 goats, sheep, antelopes, or true cattle; and 

 these groups are likewise absent from the 

 fauna of the New World, except the goat, 



the sheep, and the pronghorn of the Rocky 

 Mountains. The bisons date there from the 

 Pliocene; and during the ice age the musk- 

 ox ranged over the whole area of the United 

 States. 



The Camel Family, on the other hand, has 

 a much older line of descent in America than 

 in the Old World. This line plainly begins 

 in the Upper Eocene with a genus Parameryx. 

 It gets more and more sharply characterized 

 in the Miocene and Pliocene, and even in 

 the Quaternary period the llamas inhabited 

 the whole area of the United States, whence 

 they have since retired. 



The Deer finally show the same gradual 

 development of the antlers as in Europe. 

 They begin in the Lower Pliocene with genera 

 (Casoryx), which have the metacarpal and 

 metatarsal bones still separate, and are con- 

 tinued without interruption till we come to 

 the types of the present day. In the Quater- 

 nary period the reindeer advanced as far as 

 Texas. 



Lastly, we mention that it has been alleged 

 that antelopes have been found in the caves 

 of Brazil, but a careful investigation is re- 

 quired for the establishment of this fact. 



