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Show 1891.] DR. C. J. FORSYTH M A J O R O N FOSSIL G I R A F F T D J E . 323 6. HELLADOTHERIUM. What I have to remark about the so-called Helladotherium supports the views above stated. As to the systematic position of Helladotherium duvernoyi, Gaud., from Pikermi l, Rutimeyer agrees with Gaudry and Lydekker, that we have to do with a form related to the Giraffe2. With the Helladotherium of Pikermi Gaudry united a hornless skull from the Siwaliks, which had been originally considered by Falconer as a female Sivatherium 3 : Gaudry adds that Falconer himself inclines towards this opinion4. The French author confines himself to pointing out a few differences between the Pikermi and the Siwalik form which, in fact, as Lydekker remarks, would not be sufficient to justify a specific distinction of the two specimens. We have a nearly complete description of the Indian skull by Rutimeyer5, not from the original, but from the drawing in the ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis.' Rutimeyer also unites the two specimens. The rather important differences between the two skulls he ascribes partly to the artist of the French plates, partly to the deformation of the Pikermi skull by crushing. I have been able to convince myself from an examination of the original Pikermi skull in Paris that the drawing is correct, and that the deformation is no more than Gaudry himself admitted (" un peu comprime de haut en bas") ; so that the remarkable elongation of the parietal region of the Pikermi skull, which presents difficulties to Rutimeyer, is perfectly natural. As may be seen from the accompanying sketches of the Helladotherium from Pikermi (fig. 3, p. 324) and the so-called Helladotherium from the Siwaliks (fig. 4 B, p. 325) the superior profile in the crania is remarkably different. The region above and behind the orbits is slightly hollowed in the Greek Helladotherium, whilst in the Siwalik skull a convexity is visible in the same position. As appears from the upper view of the Siwalik skull (fig. 4 A, p. 325), the highest point of the elevation in question would correspond to the hinder extremity of the nasals. Such being the case according to the drawing, the nasals would have extended backwards bevond the orbits, an arrangement unknown among Ruminants. A close examination of the original specimen shows, however, that this cannot be. As the cranial roof has been removed in this place, we see clearly that here are pneumatic expressed in the summary of the chapter devoted to this genus. " Whether these remains belong to one or to several species or genera, they unmistakably indicate a connecting link (or links) between the Sivathere and the Giraffe which so effectually bridges over the gap hitherto existing between these animals, as to do away with all family distinction between the two." (Indian Tertiary and Post- Tertiary Vertebrata, vol. ii. p. 116.) 1 A. Gaudry, ' Animaux fossiles et Geologie de l'Attique,' pp. 252-264, pis. xli.-xliv. 2 L. Rutimeyer, ' Beitrage zu einer natiirl. GeschichtederHirsche,' i. pp. 74-78. 3 A description of the Plates in the ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis,' Supplement tary Plate A. figs. 1-1 c (H. Falconer, Paheontological Memoirs and Notes, 1868, vol. i. p. 538). 4 L. c. p. 260. 5 L. c. pp. 75-78. |