1891.] DR. C J. FORSYTH MAJOR ON FOSSIL GIRAFFID^. 319 



As regards thehorna of Samotherium, I have to state au interesting 

 fact. Ill the skull of an aged specimen of Samotherium, just above 

 the orbits where the large horns are placed in the horned specimens, 

 there occur very small processes separated by a suture from the un- 

 derlying part of the frontal. It appears that we have before us the 

 same sort of processes as in the living Giraffe. On examination of 

 the large horned skull of the Sarnotherium, a sort of burr is visible on 

 the anterior and interior base of the horn- cores, which apparently 

 corresponds to the coalesced suture. The skull in which the small 

 processes appear above the orbits is evidently that of an aged female, 

 and I think the explanation to be given is that in aged individuals 

 of the female sex, male characters occasionally make their appearance. 

 Riitimeyer has recorded that in an aged female of the Giraffe a sort 

 of stalactitic crust, as he terms it, corresponding to the dermal median 

 process of the male, sometimes covers the medial " horn " \ 



I do not propose to enter here into any detail respecting the den- 

 tition and the limb-bones of the Samotherium. As to the first, it 

 suffices to remark that the teeth differ from those of the Giraffe only 

 in slight particulars. Whilst the limb-bones in their relative pro- 

 portions come nearer to what is the rule amongst Ruminants, the 

 few cervical vertebrae collected indicate that the Samotherium had a 

 far less elongated neck than the Giraffe. 



In the British Museum is preserved a portion of the skull from the 

 ossiferous deposit of Maragha in Persia, which I have identified as 

 the Samotherium boissieri. A similar remark may be made iu re- 

 ference to some remains from the same deposits, nearly complete as 

 to the dentition, very imperfect as to the skull, lately described by 

 Rodler and Weithofer under the name of Alcicephalus neumauri '. 

 The skull being so incomplete, there still remains some doubt as to 

 its specific identification with Samotherium boissieri. 



3. PALiEOTRAGUS. 



A near ally of the Samotherium is a ruminant from Pikermi de- 

 scribed by Gaudry as an Antelope under the name of Palceotragus 

 rouenii^, RS a reference to the figure will at once show. Gaudry 

 entertains some doubts as to the systematic position of Palceotragus ; 

 he defines it : — " Ruminant qui a des cornes comme les antilopes,quoi- 

 qu'il differe de ces animaux par la plupart de ses caracteres "^ ; and 

 farther on, " Si je considere ses cornes, je le classe aupres des antilopes, 

 mais je doute de ce rapprochement, qtiand je regarde ses molaires 

 semblables a celles des terfs et de la giiafe, son occipital qui rappelle 

 celui d'un ane, sa region parietale allongee et rectangulaire," etc." 



Riitimeyer is less hesitating as to the place which Palceotragus 



^ Eiitiineyer, I. c. p. 66, note. 



^ Eodler und Weithofer, ' Die Wiederlsauer cler Fauna von Maraglia,' pp. 2-9, 

 Taf. i. fig. 1, Taf. ii., Taf. iii. figs. 1-fi, Taf. iv. figs. 1-4. 



3 A. Gaudry, ' Animaux fossiles et Geol. de I'Attique,' pp. 264-267, pi. xlv. 

 ' L. c. p. 264. 

 ' L. 0. p. 267. 



22* 



