1 86 EASTERN ARCTOG^A. [CHAP. 



recent and fossil state, with the genera Tragulus and Dorcatherium, 

 which at the present day alone represent the Tragnlida. 



The family of giraffes (Giraffidce), of which the Ethiopian 

 Giraffa cameiopardalis is the sole existing survivor, was formerly 

 extensively distributed over the area under consideration, to which 

 it appears to have been always restricted, albeit represented by 

 a considerable number of generic types. True giraffes (Giraffd) 

 ranged during the Pliocene epoch over Greece, Persia, India, 

 and China, and allied types are to be found in Visnutherium 

 of the Pliocene of India and Burma, and Helladotherium from 

 the corresponding formation of Greece. Still more gigantic than 

 the latter were the huge Hydaspitherium, Bramatherium, and 

 Sivatherium, of the Indian Pliocene, in all of which the simple 

 horns of the giraffes were replaced by large antler-like appendages, 

 differing considerably in their arrangement in the different genera. 

 Other members of the family are Samotherium, of the Pliocene of 

 the Isle of Samos, and Palceotragus from the equivalent deposits 

 of Attica, in both of which the females appear to have been horn- 

 less, although the males had a pair of simple, compressed, and 

 nearly upright horn-cores. The former is represented by a species 

 rivalling the giraffe in the size of its skull, but the latter was a 

 much smaller animal. This group likewise extended to Northern 

 Africa, where a large species from the Algerian Pliocene has been 

 described under the name of Libytherium. 



Although the extensive family of the Bovidce, including the 

 oxen, sheep, goats, antelopes, etc., is now represented in the 

 northern part of the western Holarctic region by the American 

 bison (Bos americanus\ the bighorn (Ovis canadensis], the musk- 

 ox (Ovibos moschatus], and the so-called Rocky Mountain goat 

 (Haploceros montanus), together with a few extinct forms from the 

 superficial deposits, while the anoa (Bos depressicornis) is peculiar 

 to Celebes, the greater number of its representatives belong to 

 Eastern Arctogsea. The whole of the numerous genera of ante- 

 lopes, together with the true goats, as well as the great majority of 

 the sheep, are, for instance, restricted to this area. Moreover, 

 whereas the musk-ox is now solely North American, it was common 

 in Europe during the Plistocene ; while the bighorn is closely 

 allied to the Kamschatkan wild sheep (O. nivicola), and the 



