Br. J. Murie — On the Sivatherium giganteum. 447 



Palgeontologist strengthened.^ After a study of this remarkable 

 form, the Sivatherium, one is readily inclined to admit the existence 

 in ages past of generalized forms, towards which the specialized and 

 existent fauna can be traced back. 



There is a charm in speculating on the appearance and habits of 

 bygone forms. In the case of the Sivatherium, no attempt hereto- 

 fore has been made to restoi'e it, as has been done to many reptilian, 

 feline, ruminant, and other groups. Witness Dean Buckland's, 

 Mantell's, Waterhouse and Hawkins's, etc., eiforts. Plate XIII. gives 

 my ideal of the creature (vide descriptive remarks). I have at- 

 tempted likewise to put together the skeleton on the grounds 

 noticed in the description of Plate XII. How far these are successful 

 must be left for others to judge. 



GAIVIELS 



\ 



^^ GIRAFFE 

 MECACEROPS 



BRAMATHERIUM .PRONCBUCK 



^V ClVATUFRiniVI ^ 



/ 



SIVATHERIUM 



- . .L . ^-— '^ANTELOPES 



SAIGA 



SHEEP 



Diagram designed to express the probable relationsbip of Sivatherium with 

 other Mammalian families. 



Concerning habits, Falconer threw out the startling doctrine that 

 this ruminant may have possessed and used a proboscis in' the 

 manner of the elephants and tapirs. He, moreover, from its dental 

 characteristics, states — " It may hence be inferred that the food of 

 the Sivatherium was less herbaceous than that of existing horned 

 ruminants, and derived from leaves and twigs ; or that, as in the 

 horse, the food was more completely masticated, the digestive organs 

 less complicated, the body less bulky, and the necessity of regurgita- 

 tion from the stomach less marked than in the present ruminantia." 

 Only in one of these points am I inclined to give my unqualified 

 adhesion, viz., the probability of its food being coarse and ramal. 



1 "Witness tie remarks, and genealogical tabular views in the " Animaux Fossiles 

 del'Attique" of M. Albert Gandry (Paris, 1862) : also Riitimeyer's "Beitrage pal. 

 Gesch. der Wiederkauer," Basel, 1865, and various other late writers. 



