MAMMALIA. 



37 



since tiuurislied ; Mbile the true camels by some means 

 reached Asia, as proved by numerous remains from the 

 Siwalik Formation of India in Pier-case 13. 



The giratfes, or GirafRdae, have always been Old World 

 quadrupeds. Though now contined to Africa, they also 

 ranged over the greater part of Asia and southern Europe in 

 the Lower Pliocene Period, as shown by fossils from China, 

 India, and Greece in Pier-case 14. Even the long-limljed 

 and long-necked Giraffa itself was in existence at that time, 

 but it seems to have l^een less common than the antelope- 

 shaped relatives of the okapi, which has only escaped 

 extinction l\y retreating to the recesses of the Semliki forest. 

 Samothcrium, with a pair of horns only in the male (Fig. 27), 



Fig. 27. — Skull and lower jaw of an extinct Okapi {Samothcrium boissicri), 

 from the Lower Pliocene of the Isle of Samos ; one-sixth nat. size. 

 (Pier-case 14.) 



is known l)y many remains from the Lower Pliocene of 

 Pikermi (Greece), the Isle of Samos, and jMaragha (Persia), 

 and it is scarcely distinguishable from the okapi. The 

 original skull of this animal, described by Dr. Forsyth 

 Major, is exhil)ited. HcUad other lum is a larger and stouter 

 relati^'e, of which the female at least is hornless, represented 

 l»y numerous fragments from Pikermi. Sivatherium, from 

 the Siwalik Formation of India, is equally stout, and the 

 male bears two pairs of horns, one simple pair being 

 on the frontal ])ones, a large expanded pair further back 

 (Kig. 28). The actual skull, detaclied horn-cores, limb- 

 bones, and other remains of this animal are exhibited in 

 Pier-ease 14, while a restored model ol" the Iiead is mounted on 



Pier-ease 



14. 

 Stand W. 



