8 THE GIRAFFE. 



termed ' hollow'. In the elk and the stag, on the contrary, 

 the horns consist of bone only* — of a core without a sheath, 

 and are termed 'solid.' The nutrient vessels, which lie safely 

 protected beneath their covering in the preceding examples, 

 could not carry on their functions under the present form : 

 the horn, therefore, soon falls after it is completed, and pro- 

 vision is made for its immediate renewal. 



Whilst the growth of the stag's horn proceeds, the vessels 

 which carry and deposit the bony material are protected by 

 an integument covered with short hairs, and termed techni- 

 cally the velvet : this outer covering is co-extended with the 

 horn. Were the horns destined, as apparently in the giraffe, 

 to be mere ornaments, they might have retained their hairy in- 

 vestment, and have become permanent ; but, being formed for 

 purposes of defence and combat, the nutrient vessels are com- 

 pressed between tubercles of bone thrown out at the base of the 

 antlers, forming the burr; their growth is thus arrested, the 

 integument covering them shrivels and peels off, and they re- 

 main naked and insensible weapons. But being thus cut off 

 from any vital connexion with the part from which they grew, 

 the antlers, after a short period, are cast off by a process of 

 absorption set up at their base, in accordance with an univer- 

 sal law, by which dead parts are separated from living. 



Now it is obvious that the giraffe differs from both the 

 preceding groups of ruminants in the nature of its horns ; 

 for, to say nothing of the female possessing them as well as 

 the male, — a circumstance which rarely occurs in the solid- 

 homed ruminants, — they differ also from those of the latter 

 tribe, in being permanent, and in retaining their investment, 

 which is the cause of their permanency. In the nature of 

 this investment, the horns of the giraffe differ essentially 

 from the hollow horns, as well as in their bony nucleus, 

 which is not an immediate production from the skull, but is 

 a distinct bone articulated to the former by an expanded 

 base. Of the two tribes, however, it is obvious that the gi- 

 raffe, in this respect, most resembles the solid- horned rumi- 

 nants or deer; and the analogy is almost complete, if we com- 

 pare its horns with those of a red deer in the second year, 

 while in the growing state, or in the velvet. This condition, 

 however, which is transitory in the stag, is permanent in the 

 giraffe ; and hence we have one of those anomalous genera 

 standing alone and isolated, and partaking more or less re- 

 motely of the characters which are found to separate into 



* The term ' horns ' is therefore obviously improper. The French, who 

 appear to have early appreciated the difference, call the stag's horns 'bois', 

 in contradistinction to those of the ox, termed 'comes'. 



