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Show 320 DR. C. J. FORSVTH MAJOR ON FOSSIL GIRAFFID.*. [May 5, ought to occupv ; he says-" Am zutreffendsten scheint Palceotragus in heutiger Sprache characterisirt zu sein, wenn man ihn als erne Form von Aegoceros (Hippotragus) mit noch brachyodontem Gebiss bezeichnen wiirde " \ The only resemblance with the Antelopes, and which seems to have been the reason for assigning to Palceotragus a place amongst them, is the position of the horns. Even this character does not quite agree; for I know no instance amongst Antelopes of the horns Fig. 2. Palceotragus roueni. Side view of skull, one-sixth nat. size (after Gaudry). Pikermi, Attica. being separated by such a large interval, owing to the enormous dilatation of the skull between the orbits, in which character Palceotragus agrees as well with the Giraffe as with Samotherium; and, moreover, with the latter in the horizontal upper profile of the cranium from the occiput to the snout. If it were not for the equine-like constriction of the occiput of Palceotragus roueni, as described by Gaudry, I should not have established a new genus for my Samos remains, but should have united Samotherium with Palceotragus, so very like are both in every other respect. A hornless skull from Pikermi, described by Weithofer as Camelopardalis parva '\ may turn out to be the female form of the Giraffoid Palceotragus. Rodler and Weithofer have of late pronounced this form to belong doubtless to their new genus Alcicephalus 3. This last being synonymous with Samotherium, there is no great difference in our respective opinions. The skull of Camelopardalis parva being rather incomplete and especially wanting the occipital region, it cannot for the present be decided whether its affinities are with Samotherium or with Palceotragus. 1 L. Rutimeyer," Die Rinder der Tertiar Epoche, nebst Vorstudien zu einer natiirlichen Geschichte der Antilopen," Abh. d. schweizer. palaontol. Ges. vol. iv., Zurich, 1877, p. 83. 3 Rodler and Weithofer,' Die Wiederkauer der Fauna von Maragha,' p. 1°- |
