THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
god of the desert, but later he was restored to high regard. The large 
quadruped, described in the hieroglyphics as ‘‘red,” by whose whole figure 
Set is represented in the earliest monuments, although later merely its 
head was used, or such a head surmounting a human figure, has been 
a puzzle to students. The nearest they could come to it was to guess it to 
be the wild ass, whence have arisen certain baseless myths connected with 
Set. The resemblance of the Set heads 
to the okapi is, however, so apparent, 
that it was at once accepted as the solu- 
tion of the puzzle, although no evidence 
exists that this animal ever was a resi- 
dent of any part of the Egypt of historical 
antiquity. 
Sir Harry Johnston at first thought 
he had found a living specimen of the 
Helladotherium, a fossil predecessor 
of the giraffe occurring in the 
Pikermi (Miocene) beds of Greece, 
which had a neck much shorter than modern giraffes and limbs 
more equal in length. Later fossil species, as Samotherium, 
in which the male was horned, and others, show that the present 
giraffine long neck has been very slowly acquired. Out of the 
direct genealogy, but within the family, is the extraordinary 
animal Sivatherium, found fossil in the Siwalik Hills of India, 
which had two pairs of horns, — the larger on the crown of the 
head palmated and with a few short prongs, and a shorter pair 
just above the eyes. This doubly armed creature (see illustra- 
tion on page 6) was nearly as big as an elephant. 
OKaAPI HEAD OF SET. 
The Antlered Deer — Cervidae 
It is most comforting to meet, now and then, a group of 
animals so sharply marked by one or more characteristics as to 
be easily bounded and described. Such a well-defined family 
is that of the deer, — the Cervide. It is enough simply to say 
that a dcer is an animal which bears antlers. How antlers 
298 
