Zoological Society, 149 



being united by sychondrosis to the frontal and parietal bones, con- 

 stituting an epiphysis rather than an apophysis of the cranium. With 

 regard to the supposed occurrence of a third horn in the male 

 Nubian Giraffe, as the osteological details bearing upon this point are 

 given in that part of the memoir which embraces the description of 

 the skeleton, Mr. Owen in this place merely observes, that the 

 evidence afforded by the examination of the two individuals in ques- 

 tion was rather opposed to, than in favour of its existence. 



The general form of the Giraffe is obviously modified with 

 especial reference to its exigencies and habits ; the prolongation and 

 extensibility of its hair-clad muzzle, the peculiar development, cy- 

 lindrical shape and flexibility of its tongue ; the oblique and narrow 

 apertures of the nostrils, defended by hair and surrounded with 

 cutaneous muscular fibres, enabling the animal to close them at will, 

 and thus to protect the olfactory cavity from the fine particles of 

 sand which in the storms of the desert would otherwise find ingress, 

 are points referred to by the author as exhibiting marked adapta- 

 tions of structure in especial harmony with a mode of life consequent 

 upon the nature of its food and its geographical distribution. 



For a description of the general external peculiarities of the body 

 the author refers to Riippell's Reise im Nordlichen Africa ; Geoffroy 

 in the Annales des Sciences, xi. p. 210; Salze, in the Memoires du 

 Museum, xiv. p. 68 ; and the 5th and 6th volumes of Sir E. Home's 

 Comparative Anatomy. 



The bulk of the paper consists of anatomical details relative to the 

 organs of digestion, the sanguiferous system, the nervous system, 

 the muscles, and the male and female organs of generation of the 

 Giraffe, for which we must refer to the original abstract contained 

 in No. 61 of the Society's " Proceedings." "We extract, however, 

 the following particulars belonging strictly to the comparative ana- 

 tomy and to the zoological relations of this animal. 



The Giraffe differs from every other Ruminant in the form of the 

 mouth, which resembles that of the Elk in the non-division and ex- 

 tensibility of the hair-clad upper lip, but differs widely from it in 

 the elegant tapering shape of the muzzle. The muscles of the 

 tongue, both as to number and arrangement, presented no peculi- 

 arities of importance, but the nerves were characterized by the beau- 

 tiful wavy course in which they were disposed, and by which dis- 

 position they are accommodated to the greatly varying length of 

 this organ. The erectile tissue, conjectured by Sir Everard Home 

 to be present in the tongue of the Giraffe, "and to be the cause of 

 its extension, has no existence : the only modifications of the vas- 



