NEBULA TO MAN 
Of new forms more, of old forms less remain ; 
And threads are loosed from Nature's tangled skein. 
Creatures, horned as the Muntjacs of to-day, 
Their simple two-tined antlers here display 75 
As in the Miocene times ; others are here 
Whose growing antlers thrice-tined now appear. 
And such new forms indeed may prove to be 
Of Roe deer life the immediate ancestry 
And old herds roam though range they not so far 80 
Whose males and females both quite hornless are. 
Horned antelope, as varied as the deer, 
Explore the plains in growing numbers here. 
Forms as of Miocene times are on the scene, 
But longer horned : and others close akin 85 
To Afric's long horned Oryx here we see : 
Whilst some whose horns are twisted spirally, 
More as the ox-like Eland's, now abound : 
And true gazelles with horny lyres crowned 
In goodly herds along the wilds resound. 90 
Giraffes, long merged in antelope and deer, 
Are leaving now old moorings as it were. 
Strange bulky forms, with less of grace than strength, 
On short stout limbs of nearly equal length, 
Are now abroad. Long horns some forms display, 95 
And shorter necked are all than those to-day. 
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