320 



DR. C. J. FORSYTH MAJOR ON FOSSIL GIRAFF1D.E. [May 5, 



ought to occupy ; he says — " Am zutrefTendsten scheint Palteotrngus 

 iu heutiger Sprache characterisirt zu sein, wenn mau ihii als eine 

 Porrn von Aegoceros {Hippotragus) mit noch brachyodontem Gebiss 

 bezeichnen wiirde " \ 



The only resemblance with the Antelopes, and which seems to 

 have been the reason for assigning to PaUeotragus a place amongst 

 them, is the {)Ositioa of the horns. Even this character does not 

 quite agree; for I know no instance amongst Antelopesof the horns 



Palesotraffus rotieni. 

 Side view of skull, one-8istli nat. size (aftei' Gaudry). Pikernii, Attica. 



being separated by such a large iutervnl, owing to the enormous dila- 

 taiion of the skull between the orbits, in which character Palceo- 

 tragus agrees as well with the Giraffe as with Samotherimn ; and, 

 moreover, with the latter in the horizontal upper profile of the cra- 

 nium from the occiput to the snout. If it were not for the equine- 

 like constriction of the occiput of PalcBOtragus roveni, as described by 

 Gaudry, I should not have established a new genus for my Samos 

 remains, but should have united Samotherium with Palceotragus, so 

 very like are botli in every other respect. 



A hornless skidl from Pikermi, described by Weithofer as Came- 

 lopardalis parva ', may turn oiit to be the female form of the Giraffoid 

 Palceotragus. Rodler and Weithofer have of late pronounced this 

 form to belong doubtless to their new genus Alcieephalus ^. This 

 last being synonymous with Samotherium, there is no great difference 

 in our respective opinions. The sknWoi Cumelopurdulis parvahemy:^ 

 rather incomplete and especially wanting the occipital region, it 

 cannot for the present be decided whether its affinities are with 

 Samotherium or with Palceotragus. 



^ L. Eiitinieyer," Die Binder der Tertiar Epoclie, nebst Vorstudien zu einer 

 natiirlichen Geschicbte der Antilopen," Abh. d. schweizer. paliiontol. Ges. vol. 

 iv., Zuric-h, 1877, p. 83. 



- L. s. c. 



^ Eodler and Weithofer, ' Die Wiederkiiuer der Fauna von Maraglia,' p. 10. 



