Asiatic Society. 429 



separation of the skull from near 1001b. of matrix occupied Mr. 

 Bettington many weeks. The skull, on the whole, is well preserved, 

 though a portion has suffered from the action of water. The lines of 

 teeth on the two sides of the palate are unconformable ; and it has 

 been conjectured that the head must, at this part, have suffered from 

 violence, but there is no appearance of fracture. For the purposes 

 of comparison, Mr. HettLigton had made a close measurement of 

 every part of the Perim fossil, of the sivatherium, and of the skull of 

 the adult giraffe in the British Museum ; from all which it appeared 

 that the Perim fossil is the smaller. The teeth are similar in num- 

 ber and character to those of the sivatherium, and are somewhat 

 smaller, as the comparative size of the heads would lead us to expect. 

 A marked distinction between the two is found in the excess in width 

 of the cranium at the vertex, being in the sivatherium 22 inches, and 

 in the Perim fossil little more than 1 1 inches, in which character the 

 latter approaches nearer to the giraffe. But the greatest point of 

 difference is in the form and position of the horns. In the sivatherium 

 the horns bear somewhat the same relation to each other as in the 

 four- horned antelope ; whereas, in the fossil under consideration, the 

 anterior horns rise from a confluent base measuring twenty-five 

 inches ; the horns above the line of division measuring eighteen 

 inches. This formation the writer considers to be without precedent 

 in the animal kingdom, fossil or recent. The general character, can- 

 cellar structure, and extensive development of the protuberance at 

 the lower edge of the transverse ridge of the occiput, compel the 

 conviction that it was a posterior horn, " reflected" as in the com- 

 mon Indian buffalo, and must have produced an appearance truly 

 monstrous. The whole formation indicates great force and 

 power. Among the other fossils, there were some identical with those 

 of the Sevalic hills, and others peculiar, as yet, to Perim. Among 

 the latter was a new crocodilean. There were specimens of three 

 species of mastodon, gariols, and rhinoceros ; and the heads, horns, 

 and teeth of stags, antelopes, oxen, &c. The writer concluded with 

 the observation that there was still a rich field of research remaining 

 at this deposit, and that he had sent to India, not only for some of 

 the specimens before referred to, but was also making arrangements 

 for prosecuting further research. — Dr. Mantell, who was present 



