The great
group of the "Hollow-horned" Ruminants (_Cavicornia_), lastly,
came into existence in the Miocene period; and though the typical
families of the Sheep and Oxen are apparently wanting, there are
true Antelopes, together with forms which, if systematically
referable to the _Antilopidoe_, nevertheless are more or less
clearly transitional between this and the family of the Sheep and
Goats. Thus the _Paloeoreas_ of the Upper Miocene of Greece may
be regarded as a genuine Antelope; but the _Tragoceras_ of the
same deposit is intermediate in its characters between the typical
Antelopes and the Goats. Perhaps the most remarkable, however,
of these Miocene Ruminants is the _Sivatherium giganteum_ (fig.
245) of the Siwalik Hills, in India. In this extraordinary animal
there were two pairs of horns, supported by bony "horn-cores,"
so that there can be no hesitation in referring _Sivatherium_
to the Cavicorn Ruminants. If all these horns had been simple,
there would have been no difficulty in considering _Sivatherium_
as simply a gigantic four-horned Antelope, essentially similar
to the living _Antilope_ (_Tetraceros_) _quadricornis_ of India.
The hinder pair of horns, however, is not only much larger than
the front pair, but each possesses two branches or snags--a
peculiarity not to be paralleled amongst any existing Antelope,
save the abnormal Prongbuck (_Antilocapra_) of North America.
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