232 ANIMAL LIFE PAST AND PRESENT. 



wrench off its horn from the bony horn-core ; and are 

 thereby totally different from the dead antlers of 

 the Deer. Moreover, with one remarkable exception, 

 of which more anon, horns are never branched, and are 

 never shed from their bony cores. In many instances, 

 as in the Oxen, they are also common to the male and 

 female; although those of the former are the larger. 

 As in the case of Deer, we find, however, that the 

 earliest Oxen and Antelopes were devoid of horns, and 

 that these appendages show a gradual increase in size 

 as we ascend in the Tertiary period to the present day. 

 The one exception among the hollow-horned Rumi- 

 nants (as the animals with true horns are often called), 

 in which the horns are branched and are annually shed 

 from their cores, is the Prong-buck of North America. 

 In this elegant Antelope the horns have a single 

 branch, and curve backwards in a hook-like manner. 

 Another type of cranial appendage is exhibited by the 

 well-known Giraffe, of Africa, which has a pair of 

 short bony protuberances on the forehead differing 

 from those of any of the preceding forms. These pro- 

 tuberances, which are some three inches in length, are 

 cones of bone resting upon the forehead, from which 

 in the young state they are entirely separate, although 

 in old animals they become firmy united by bone with 

 the skull. They are completely covered with skin, 

 and seem to be of no possible use to their owner. 

 They appear to correspond with the bony pedicles sup- 

 porting the antlers of the deer, and may, perhaps, be 

 regarded as remnants of larger appendages found in cer- 



