320 



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



ought to occupy ; he says — " Am zutreffendsten scheint Palceotrogus 

 in heutiger Sprache characterisirt zu sein, wenn man ihu als eine 

 !Form von Aegoceros {Hippotragus) mit noch brachyodoxitem Gebiss 

 bezeichnen wiirde " ^. 



The only resemblance with the Antelopes, and which seems to 

 have been the reason for assigning to Paleeotragus a place amongst 

 them, is the position of the horns. Even this character does not 

 quite agree; for I know no instance amongst Antelopes of the horns 



Fio;. 2. 



Pcdaotragns roueni. 

 Side view of skull, one-sistli nat. size (after Gaudry). Pikermi, Attica. 



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

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

 trogus 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 Palceotragus roueni, as described by 

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

 remains, but should have united Samotlierium with Palceotragus, so 

 very like are both in every other respect. 



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

 lopardalis parva ', may turn out 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 ^Zace/j^a/Ms ^. This 

 last being synonymous with Samotherium, there is no great difference 

 in our respective opinions. The skull of Camel opardalis parva being 

 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. Ril tiro eyer," Die E.inder der Tertiar EiDOche, nebst Vorstudien zu einer 

 naturlichen Geschiclite der Antilopen," Abh. d. schweizer. palaoiitol. Ges. vol. 

 iv., Zurich, 1877, p. 83. 



- L. s. c. 



^ Rodler and Weithofer, ' Die Wiederkauer der Fauna von Maraglia/ p. 10. 



