20 



olive-brown, a tint arising from the liairs being each minutely an- 

 nulated \vith deep yello\v and black. The throat. chest, and rump, 

 are whitish, and the belly is yellow. The hairs covering the feet 

 above are annulated likę those of the body, but of a deeper tint. 

 The tail is cylindrical and rather slender, and exhibits obscure an- 

 nulations, each hair being annulated -vpith deep golden yello\v and 

 black. The fur is short and soft, that on the back is grey at the 

 base ; on the under parts the hairs are very obscurely tinted with 

 grey at the base. The hairs of the moustaches are numerous, 

 moderately long, rather slender, and of a black colour. The head 

 is ver}"^ nearly uniform in colour \vith the body, it is however less 

 yellow." 



Mr. Blyth caUed the attention of the Society to a peculiarity in 

 the structure of the feet in the Trogon'ula, which he thought had not 

 been previously noticed. Tliis family, although zygodactylous, have 

 the toes disposed on quite a different principle from the Wood- 

 peckers, Parrots, and other birds, \vhich present an analogous struc- 

 ture; their first and second toes being opposed to the thircl and 

 fourth, in lieu of the first and fourth to the second and third, in 

 conseąuence of which, that toe, which corresponds to the middle one 

 in birds that are not yoke-footed, that is to say, the third or longest 

 toe, is the invard of the two forward toes in the Trogon family, and 

 the outw'ard in the Woodpeckers and Parrots. 



A continuation of Mr. Owen's paper, on the Anatomy of the Gi- 

 raffe w'as then read, embracing the principai features of interest in 

 the osteological peculiarities of this animal. 



The author, in the first place, details the result of his investiga- 

 tion into the evidence bearing upon the supposition of there being in 

 the malė Nubian GirafFe a third hom, situated anteriorly in the me- 

 sial line of the cranium. 



Upon making a section of the skull of the malė Cape GirafFe, the 

 anterior protuberance was shovvn to be due only to a thickening and 

 elevation of the anterior extremities of the frontai, and the contiguous 

 extremities of the nasal, bones ; and in the Nubian Giraffe the ex- 

 istence of a third distinct bony nucleus was also satisfactorily nega- 

 tived ; for, upon macerating the skuUs of individuals \vhich had not 

 attained the adult age, the posterior horns became detached from the 

 bones of the cranium ; but no such separation took place in respect 

 to the protuberances forming the supposed third hom, -vvhich would 

 have been the case had its relation to the cranium been that of a 

 distinct epiphysis. 



In both the Cape and Nubian GiraflPe, the horns įvere placed im- 

 mediately over the coronal suture, \vhich traversed the centre of their 

 expanded bases. The frontai bones were distinct and joined by a 

 \vell-marked suture, continued along the posterior two-thirds of the 

 frontai protuberance, or as far as the nasal bones. Tlie sagittal 

 suture \vas persistent on both sides external to the horns. llie parietal 

 bone ■vvas single and anchylosed with the occipital and interparietal 

 bones. 



