r o 



OF THE HOLLOW-HORNED RUMINANTS. -'-^ 



Hamilton Smith' and Don Felix Azara' observed the same phx-nomenon in the pricket- 

 horned Deer of South America ; not indeed that these animals never shed then- horns 

 as nn.ht be inferred from the vague expressions employed by the former naturahst but 

 that t?.ey do so at more distant and irregular intervals than the larger spee.es of tern- 

 per te and northern climates. The Giraffe alone differs from all other sohd-horned 

 Ruminants in this respect. It is true that this animal wants the actual excrescences 

 which forn. the horns of the Deer kind, but it does not on ^'^^ '— ^.^f ^^^^^ „! 

 to the same natural family ; the difference is rather in degree than m kmd; the G^raff 

 lias the same long frontal processes as the Muntjacs, and is in that respect intermediate 



^r;r^i:uk::^-t^^ 



bel ridiculed .r asserting this fact with ^ard to - -^^ -> ^ ^^ 



a. much better observer than his critics, and 1 have myseii \eiii 

 a mucn oeuer ou ^^^^^ ^^ examined, it will be 



on many other Ruminants. If the horns oi any ) j b 



found that they are of a coarse, scabrous, spongy texture, very thick and blunt in pro- 

 portion to their length, and hollow nearly to the point: let the same individual be ex- 

 a^ d when it arrives at maturity ; the horns, especially towards the extremity, have a 

 lose compact, and polished surface ; they are much attenuated, end in a very hne point. 

 ancn;ave the terminal third perfectly solid. These changes do not arise from the mere 

 robbing and polishing of the horn, as is commonly supposed. That hypothesis oes not 

 account for the difference of texture and solidity which distingxiishes the old and young 

 horns ; but the truth is, that, as in the case of the second dentition, the permanent organ 

 is developed under, or rather within the other, and by its growth gradually carries i 

 upwards, and supports it like a sheath or scabbard. The young horn, thus severed from 

 the vess is which formerly supplied it with nutriment, dries up, bursts from he exp n- 

 stn o t^.e permanent horn within it, and exfoliates in large irregular stripes leaving the 

 ter with the finely polished surface and solid, sharp, attenuated points which distingui h 

 "m As far as my observations enable me to judge, this exfoliation takes place only 

 o ce dulg the Ufe of the animal, and that at the period of adolescence, immediately 

 b ore the appearance of the first annulus. Though it does not take place all at one 

 nor absolutely deprive the animal of horns for a certain period, it is nevertheless a true 

 actual slfeddfng of these organs, and accounts satisfactorily for -y 1 -non^ena 

 which I found inexplicable before making these observations. The horns of the Ory... 

 for instance, which in the adult state are remarkable for their straightness and extreme 

 hapness have the points very blunt and bent backwards, almost at a right angle, n 

 he young nimal; and the Koba or S/n,-S<.,. whose permanent horns are partially 

 vrated has the yo;ng organs nearly straight, as may be observed in the specimen now 

 n e Soci ty's Museum It is only necessary to observe further, that the young horn 

 llch !fterwLs exfohates. appears to be entirely the growth of the first year, though 



' Quad, du Parag.. i. 40. 50. 



