OF THE NUBIAN GIRAFFE. 239 
of the radius, one-sixth of the length from the head of the bone, and its course is 
obliquely distad, both in the skeleton of the Nubian Giraffe in the College of Surgeons, 
and in the skeleton of the Giraffe in the Parisian Museum. 
The first row of carpal bones includes the scaphoides, lunare, cuneiforme, and pisi- 
forme ; the last is of large size, and represents the os calcis. The second row consists 
of three bones. The metacarpal bone is remarkable for its great length: a pair of 
sesamoid bones are articulated to the posterior part of each of its distal articular sur- 
faces. A large sesamoid bone is also placed between the second and third phalanges. 
The femur of the Giraffe may be distinguished from that of any other mammiferous 
animal by the large proportional size of its distal extremity. In the situation and 
course of its medullary artery it differs from Man and the unguiculate Mammalia, and 
resembles the horned Ruminants generally: the artery, for example, euters the femur 
at its anterior surface, about one-fifth from the proximal extremity, and runs obliquely 
downwards or distad, and backwards’: in the Camel, however, as in the Horse and 
Tapir, the medullary artery penetrates the femur at its posterior surface near the middle 
of the bone and runs distad. The tibia has the same disposition of the medullary canal 
as in other Mammalia. In the tarsus the two cuneiform bones which are separate in 
the Camel, and in most true Ruminants, are anchylosed in the Giraffe : but the rudiment- 
ary bones of the two posterior pendent or spurious digits, which are present in many 
of the Deer and Antelope tribe, are entirely wanting in the Giraffe, as in the Camel. 
Generative System. 
Male Organs. 
The testes are situated in a short scrotum in the situation usual in the Ruminant 
tribe ; on each side of the base of the scrotum are the rudiments of two mamme. 
The testes themselves are elongate, oval: the tunica vaginalis, as usual, communicates 
with the peritoneal cavity. It is reflected from the tunica albuginea upon the outer 
side of the epididymis, covers that body, and is then continued from a longitudinal line 
traversing the middle of the concavity of the epididymis, which is applied to the testis, 
upon and over that gland. The globus major forms a rounded protuberance projecting 
below the testis. The corpus highmorianum, or line of condensed cellular tissue from 
which the tubuli testis diverge, is situated nearly in the longitudinal azis of the testis. 
This position is most favourable for the periodical enlargement of the testis, which takes 
place in the Giraffe, as in the Deer and Antelopes ; for the development proceeding from 
this central line, as a fixed point, the tubuli testis can expand and become extended in 
every direction. 
The vasa deferentia pursue the same course as in the Deer ; they become slightly en- 
larged at the terminal two inches of their course, and the secreting surface of their 
lining membrane is augmented by various irregular folds and sinuses. 
1 This is the case in the Buffalo, the Aurochs, the Goat, the Sheep, and the Stag. 
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