356 Zoological Collections 



te 



a long time in its mouth has easily led to this mistake. As to the rest, 

 every thing in the scaros of the modern Greeks agrees with the picture of 

 the Scarus of which so many of the ancient naturalists have spoken ; the 

 same colour, same shape, the same delicate flesh, which made it so much 

 in request among the epicures of Rome ; the same excellent flavour of its 

 intestines, and the same address with which it avoids the snares laid for 

 it. In short, the popular opinion respecting the succours which these fish 

 lend to others of their species to help them out of the nets prevails yet 

 among the Greeks. , 



3. Notices regarding the Camelopard, 



As a live camelopard has been sent to London and another to Paris, the 

 history and habits of these animals have excited some interest. At a 

 meeting of the Academy of Sciences on the 2d July last, M. Geoffroy Saint- 

 Hilaire observed that naturalists were wrong in supposing that there was 

 only one species of the camelopard. The animal now in Paris differs from 

 the Cape of Good Hope species by several essential anatomical characters, 

 and he proposes to distinguish it by the name of the Giraffe ofSennmir, the 

 country from which it comes. Some natives of Egypt having come to.see 

 the one in Paris in the costume of the country, the animal gave evident 

 proofs of joy, and loaded them with caresses. This fact is explained by 

 the circumstance that the Giraffe has an ardent affection for its Arabian 

 keeper, and that it naturally is delighted with the sight of the turban and 

 the costume of its keeper. 



Some authors have proved the mildness and docility of the camelopard, 

 while others represent it as incapable of being tamed. This difference is 

 ascribed by M. Saint-Hilaire to difference of education. Four or five years 

 ago a male Giraffe, extremely savage, was brought to Constantinople. The 

 keeper of the present Giraffe had also the charge of this one, and he 

 ascribes its savageness entirely to the manner in which it was treated. 



At the same sitting M. Mongez read a memoir on the testimony of an- 

 cient authors respecting the Giraffe. Moses is the first author who speaks 

 of it. As Aristotle does not mention it, M. Mongez supposes that it was 

 unknown to the Greeks, and that it did not then exist in Egypt, otherwise 

 Aristotle, who travelled there, must have known about it. In the year 708 of 

 Rome, Julius Cassar brought one to Europe, and the Roman Emperors 

 afterwards exhibited them at Rome, either foi: the games in the circus, or 

 in their triumphs over the African princes. Albertus Magnus, in his 

 Treatise de Animalibus, is the first modern author who speaks of the Gi- 

 raffe. In 1486 one of the Medici family possesseti one at Florence, where 

 it lived for a considerable time. 



In its native country the Giraffe browses on the twigs of trees, preferring 

 plants of the Mimosa genus; but it appears that it can without inconve- 

 nience subsist on other vegetable fooil. The one kept at Florence fed on 

 the fruits of the country, and chiefly on apples, which it begged from the 

 inhabitants of the first storeys of the houses. The one now in Paris, from 

 its having been accustomed in early life to the food prqiared by the 

 Arabs for their camels, is fed on mixed grains bruised, such as maize, bar- 



