ALLIES OF THE GIRAFFE. 
337 
without an unossifiecl space in front of the eye. An allied animal, known as the 
libythere, has left its remains in the Pliocene strata of Algeria. 
In the samothere 
of the Isle of Samos 
and Persia, of which 
the skull is shown in 
the accompanying 
woodcut, the fore and 
hind-limbs are of nearly 
equal length, and the 
forehead, owing to the 
absence of cells, is 
nearly flat, while there 
is no unossified space 
in front of the eve. 
m1 J SKULL OF THE SAMOTHERE (about i Hat. size). 
I he eyes were sur¬ 
mounted by a pair of flattened bony processes, which there is some reason to believe 
were detached from the bones of the forehead in the young state, and which may 
have been clothed either with skin or with horny sheaths in the living condition. 
In many respects the skull of this animal approximates to that of the elk. 
By far the largest of all Ruminants was the gigantic Indian sivathere, whose 
skull and limb-bones rival 
in magnitude those of 
the biggest rhinoceroses. 
The skull of this 
enormous creature was 
very short and wide, and, 
in the male at any rate, 
carried a pair of large 
antler-like appendages, 
situated immediately over 
the occiput, in addition 
to which there was a 
pair of simple spike-like 
horns above the eyes. 
Although the branched 
appendages of the skull skull of the sivathere (about J nat. size), 
recall the antlers of the 
elk, it is evident that they were never shed; and it is, therefore, probable that 
they were covered during life either with hairy skin or with horn. In any case, 
they were to a considerable extent intermediate in their nature between the horns 
of the oxen and the antlers of the deer. Other kindred types were the hydaspi- 
there and the bramathere of India, in both of which the appendages of the skull 
take origin from an elevated common base rising above the forehead. In the 
former of these animals there was a large unossified space in front of the eye, 
similar to that occurring in the giraffe and the deer. 
VOL. II.—22 
