124 The Ametican Naturalist. [March. 
specialization of the long neck and fore legs would not ex- 
clude it from that family. It is merely an adaptation for the 
habit of browsing on the foliage of tall trees. In the extinct 
species of its single genus, Giraffa, these characters are found 
in a less degree than in the existing one, forming transitions 
to the ordinary forms of Booidea. 
The most obvious distinction between the BovidcX and the 
Cervidae is in the differing character of the bony processes of the 
skull, used for offense and defense. But where horns are 
wanting, as is the case with some genera, these distinctions 
fall to the ground. The horn-type of the Bovidce is more 
primitive than that of the Cervidae, since the horny process is 
permanent in the former, and is shed and reproduced annu- 
ally in the latter. The dental type is, however, never so 
specialized in the deer as is the case with the highest genera 
of Bovidae, remaining always distinctly rooted, while in Bos 
and some other genera of the latter they become prismatic. 
But the lower genera of Bovidae do not differ from Cervidae 
In accordance with these facts the bovine ruminants appear 
a little before the cervine, though authors generally refer the 
earliest genera to the latter division. Such are the genera 
Dicrocerus and Cosoryx,^ which appear in the latest Miocene 
beds. Dicrocerus only differs from Palaeomeryx in the pos- 
session of horns, which resemble those of deer, but which 
were, according to Schlosser, never shed, a fact which com- 
pels its location in the Bovidae. In Cosoryx the horns have 
the same character in this respect, but the teeth are antelo- 
pine, or prismatic. It is clearly to be placed in the Bovidaj 
with Antilocapra ( the prong horn, ) and it is closely allied to 
Dicrocerus. Here we see that the point of origin of the 
two families was from a common ancestor, and that this ances- 
tor was, as has been already expressed by Schlosser, the genus 
Pahtomeryx. Nearly related to this point of departure are 
the Sivatherium, Bramatherium, and Hydaspidotherium. As 
they did not shed their horns, they cannot be referred to the 
Cervidae. In their covering with the integument, Cosoryx 
probably possessed a character of Giraffa, which is a primitive 
• Leidy, Cope ; Prccervulus Gaudry. 
