ORDER UNGULATA. 



1343 



genus, in which there are no antlers, and the upper canines of the 



male attain an excessive development, not improbably occurs fossil 



in the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills. 



Family Giraffid^. — In this family, which is taken to include 



the Siv cither ii dee of some authors, the cranial appendages, when 



present, appear to be intermediate in character between those of 



the Bovidce and Cervidce. The teeth are more or less brachydont, 



o o 



and invested with a rugose enamel ; their number being I. -, C. -, 



Pm. -, M. -. The tvpe genus Giraffa (CamelofiardalisY which at 



3 3' 



the present day is represented only by G. camelopardalis of Africa, 

 is closely allied to the Cervidce, in which family it is included by 

 Professor Riitimeyer ; the frontal appendages consist of a pair of 



-P7 7 



Fig. 1218. — Skull and antlers of Cerz-alces americanus ; from the Pleistocene of North America. 

 Reduced. Letters as in figs. 1216 and 1217. (After Scott.) 



short, erect, bony processes, at first connected by suture, but subse- 

 quently anchylosed to the skull, which are covered with hairy skin, 

 and are present in both sexes. Anteriorly to these there is a median 

 process on the frontals and nasals, which is sometimes termed a 

 third horn. There are no traces of lateral digits ; the humerus has 

 a double bicipital groove ; there is a lachrymal vacuity in the 

 cranium ; and the neck and limbs are enormously elongated. 

 Fossil species occur in the Lower Pliocene of Greece, Persia, 

 India, and China. Vishnutherium, of the Siwaliks of Burma and 

 India, appears to be an allied genus, with shorter limbs, but the 



