328 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



is said to have lost its lateral digits. Here also in the Upper Pliocene of 

 the sub-Himalayan Siwaliks occurs a species of true horse. This ancient 

 Siwalik horse (E. sivalensis) measured about 15 hands (1.524 m.); it had 

 long, very slender limbs, a long, tapering face, deflected to form an angle 

 of nearly twenty degrees with the base of the cranium; it seems also to 

 have had a long neck, high withers, and a high-set tail, thus resembling 

 the so-called Arabian, or desert type of horse. Like the E. stenonis of the 

 Pliocene of northern Italy it may have contributed to modern breeds,^ such 

 as the unimproved Kirghiz races of central Asia. It is distinguished from 

 E. stenonis, however, by a broad protocone, or anterior pillar, on its upper 

 molars (see p. 321). 



Among the artiodactyls in the period of the 'Upper Siwaliks' the most 

 significant new arrival from America is the camel (C sivalejisis) , said to 

 retain affinities with the South American llamas (Auchenia). There are 

 also true giraffes (Camelopardalis) , and a great variety of the extinct horned 

 giraffes known as sivatheres, bramatheres, and vishnutheres, allied to but 

 much more specialized than those of the Upper Miocene of Pikermi; it is 

 noteworthy that these aberrant giraffes are the only ruminants which give 

 an archaic character to the artiodactyl fauna of the Siwaliks, all the re- 

 maining Artiodactyla being decidedly modern in aspect. Among the 

 actually modern forms are the true chevrotains (Tragulus) and musk deer 

 (Moschus). There are also more ancient forms said to be allied to the 

 Miocene Palceojneryx of Europe. The distribution of water chevrotains 

 (Dorcatherium) in this fauna of European affinity is probably confined to 

 the older or lower beds. The higher deer are all of existing Asiatic type, 

 namely, representatives of the rusa (C sivalensis) and axis group. It is 

 noteworthy that there are no deer of the northern (Cervus) type. 



The Cavicornia, or hollow-horned ruminants, are represented by an 

 enormous variety of forms closely related to those now confined to Asia 

 or to East and South Africa, but also found in North Africa in Pleistocene 

 times. Among the animals related to the existing Asiatic antelopes are the 

 nilgai (Boselaphus) ,. the four-horned antelope (Tetracerus) , the gazelle 

 (Gazella). Among animals of modern African affinity are the elands 

 (Oreas), the kudus (Strepsiceros) , the roan and sable antelopes (Hippo- 

 tragus), forms related to the hartebeests (Bubalis) and water bucks (Cobus), 

 also the gazelles (Gazella). It is these African types only 

 which have allies in the European 'newer Miocene' fauna 

 of Pikermi and Maragha, — a significant fact. Especially novel is 

 the appearance of the goats (Capra) in forms closely related to existing 

 species of Asia, also including a large hornless goat (Bucapra) with bovine 

 affinities. 



All these facts point to northern India as a great center of adaptive 



' Ewart, J. C, The Possible Ancestors of the Horses Living under Domestication. Science, 

 n.s., Vol. XXX, no. 763, Aug. 13, 1909, pp. 219-223. 



