316 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 
they inhabit they are incessantly exposed to be the 
prey of carnivorous animals, and find safety only in 
precipitous flight. Necessity has forced them to run 
swiftly ; and from the habit they have thus acquired 
their body has become slenderer and their limbs much 
more delicate: we see examples in the antelopes, the 
gazelles, etc. 
“Other dangers in our climate to which are con- 
tinually exposed the deer, the roebuck, the fallow- 
deer, of perishing from the chase made by man, have 
reduced them to the same necessity, restrained them 
to similar habits, and have given rise to the same 
results. 
“The ruminating animals only using their legs as 
supports, and not having strong jaws, which are only 
exercised in cutting and browsing on grass, can only 
fight by striking with the head, by directing against 
each other the verter of this part. 
“In their moments of anger, which are frequent, 
especially among the males, their internal feelings, by 
their efforts, more strongly urge the fluids toward 
this part of their head, and it there secretes the cor- 
neous matter in some, and osseous matter mixed with 
corneous matter in others, which gives origin to solid 
protuberances; hence the origin of horns and antlers, 
with which most of these animals have the head 
armed, 
“As regards habits, it is curious to observe the 
results in the special form and height of the giraffe 
(camclopardalis); we know that this animal, the 
tallest of mammals, inhabits the interior of Africa, 
and that it lives in localities where the earth, almost 
always arid and destitute of herbage, obliges it to 
browse on the foliage of trees, and to make continual 
efforts to reach it. It has resulted from this habit, 
maintained for a long period in all the individuals of 
its race, that its forelegs have become longer than the 
hinder ones, and that its neck is so elongated that 
