101 
the highest credit) that this resistance on the part of the parent is 
quite natural and frequent with giraffes in general ; and this leads 
me to infer, therefore, that the young animal must have struck its 
head violently against the woodwork of the stall when in the act of 
escaping from the kicks of its annoyed parent. 
In a formal note addressed to the Secretary, and dated 7th Dec. 
1859, I have already communicated the results of a post mortem 
examination of this animal, made by Mr. Bartlett and myself. That 
dissection has fully explained the immediate cause of the Giraffe’s 
death, for, as then observed, “a longitudinal section of the skull 
showed extensive injury to the vessels internally, the large sphe- 
noidal sinus being filled with extravasated blood. The upper lip 
was rather deeply cut, evidently from sudden contact with the middle 
incisor-teeth. The vessels of the brain were gorged, but there was 
no laceration of the cerebral substance. All the viscera were per- 
fectly healthy.” The precise locality of the blood-extravasation is 
clearly indicated in the accompanying drawing (Pl. LXXVII.). Here 
it will be noticed that the submucous tissues, both above and below 
the palato-maxillary bones, are completely ecchymosed, whilst the 
large sphenoidal sinus below the basis cerebri is choked with blackish 
clots. Traces of extravasation existed within the cranium, and the 
meningeal vessels were everywhere unnaturally distended. 
If the drawing be further examined, and a comparison be insti- 
tuted between it and the artistic figure of a similar longitudinal 
section of the dried adult cranium accompanying Prof. Owen’s 
Memoir, published in the second volume of the Society’s Trans- 
actions, it will be observed that the relative differences in the dis- 
position of their parts are singularly marked. In the adult animal 
the fronto-parietal air-sinuses extend backwards from the centre of 
the facial region to the occipital border; but in the young giraffe 
under consideration, the anterior part of the head is only occupied 
by a single frontal sinus of comparatively limited dimensions, the 
cavity being situated immediately below the naso-frontal eminence. 
In the former, again, the sinuses are complicated by numerous 
lamellar partitions, which in the latter are merely represented by 
curved ridges whose smooth and rounded borders project internally 
from the parietes of the cavity ; two or three of these linear eleva- 
tions are seen in the annexed illustration. Another still more 
striking difference, and one which results from the non-development 
of the parietal sinuses, is that relating to the size and position of the 
brain. In the adult animal the transversal area of the cerebrum on 
section, taken immediately behind the lateral horns, is manifestly 
less than half that of the cranium divided at a similar spot ; whereas 
in the Society’s young giraffe, a like comparison will show that the 
transversal area of the brain is equivalent to at least two-thirds of 
that of the cranium. And even yet more noticeable is the circum- 
~ stance that the brain of the full-grown giraffe lies on a plane almost 
level, and continuous, as it were, with the nasal passages; but in 
the young individual, the cerebrum, though nearly parallel in direc- 
tion, is at the same time placed at a very much higher level. In the 
