1890.] 



SAIGA ANTELOPE FROM PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS. 



613 



Hind feet 

 Tail 



Dipics. Euchorewtes. Alactaga. Platyoercomys. 



with 3 digits, witli 5 digits, with 5 digits, with .5 digits. 



cylindrical cylindrical cylindrical flattened and 



and tufted. and tufted. and tufted. lancet- 



Auditory "1 



bllllEB J 



Antorbital 

 foramen 



Incisors .. 

 Premolars 



large. 



very large. moderate. 



shaped. 



with a sepa- with a sepa- with no sepa- 

 rate passag e rate passage rate passage 

 for nerve. for nerve. for nerve. 



grooved. 



smooth. 



smooth. 



generally ab- Premolar pre- Premolar pi-o- No premolars, 

 sent. sent above. sent above. 



In addition to these characters, Euchoreutes differs from all other 

 form.s of the Dipodidce which I have heen able to examine in : — 



1. Its long pig-like snout, which is accompanied by a corre- 

 sponding development of the anterior part of the skull. 



2. The very large size of the auditory bullae. 



3. The interorbital constriction of the frontal bones. 



4. The large size of the posterior palatine foramina. 



5. The absence of the process on the lower jaw between the 

 condyle and the angle. 



I have to thank Mr. Oldfield Thomas for assistance and advice 

 when examining the specimens in the British Museum. 



7. Note on the Occurrence of the Saiga Antelope in the 

 Pleistocene Deposits of the Thames Valley. By A. 

 Smith Woodward, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived November 4, 1890.] 



The extensive Western range of the Saiga Antelope {Saiga ta- 

 tarica) during the Pleistocene Period has long been well known 

 through the researches especially of French palaeontologists. Not 

 only do its bones and teeth occur in considerable numbers in certain 

 of the cave-deposits in the Departments of Vienne, Dordogne, Tarn- 

 et-Graronne, and Haute-Garonne \ but at least one recognizable 

 sketch of the head of the animal has been found upon an artificially 

 incised bone, of the kind so often met with in the caverns where 

 relics of human handiwork occur ^. The Saiga thus inhabited 

 Western Europe as late as the era of Palaeolithic man, and was 

 doubtless one of the objects of his chase. 



Until the present time, however, no evidence of the occurrence of 

 this animal in the British area has been discovered among the 



^ Details are given by A. Gaudry, ' Materiaux pour I'Histoire des Temps 

 Quaternaires,' fasc. ii. (1880), with four plates. 

 2 P. Gervais, Journ. de Zool. vol. ii. (1873), p. 229, woodcut. 



