ALLIES OF THE GIRAFFE. 



337 



SKULL OP THE SAMOTHERE (about \ nat. size). 



without an unossified space in front of the eye. An allied animal, known as the 



libythere, has left its remains in the Pliocene strata of Algeria. 

 In the samothere 



of the Isle of Samos 



and Persia, of which 



the skull is shown in 



the accompanying 



woodcut, the fore and 



hind-limbs are of nearly 



equal length, and the 



forehead, owing to the 



absence of cells, is 



nearly flat, while there 



is no unossified space 



in front of the eye. 



The eyes were sur- 

 mounted 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 animal 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 



enormous creature was 



very short and wide, and, 



in the male at any rate, 



carried a pair of large 



antler -like appendages, 



situated immediately over 



the occiput, in addition 



to which there was a 



pair of simple spike-like 



horns above the eyes. 



Although the branched 



appendages of the skull 



recall the antlers of the 



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 hydaspi- 



there 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 unossified space in front of the eye, 



similar to that occurring in the giraffe and the deer. 



VOL. II. — 22 



SKULL OP THE sivathere (about \ nat. size). 



