184 



Dr. J. Murie on the Horns^ Viscera^ 



Table containing Proportional Measurements of three out of fout 

 Animals examined by me. 



The length of the caecum, which has been included with the 

 large intestines in the above, was 19, 21, and 18 inches in 

 the three respectively. 



As far as I can read the evidence, the animal dissected by 

 Joly and Lavocat, which had an alimentary tract equivalent 

 to 211 English feet, appears to offer a fair sample; or it may be 

 very slightly under the average of what obtains in the adult 

 but not aged giraffe. Owen's admeasurements of a female 

 and male about three years old, and a male of four years old, 

 taken seriatim, yield 136 feet 4 inches, 133, and 124 feet. 

 Crisp gives 254 feet in a female of eighteen years, 209 feet in 

 a young male, and 107 feet 11 inches in a specimen two months 

 old, besides acquiescing in my measurements of the ? {vide 

 tab.), =225 feet 5 inches*. It is due moreover to Prof. Owen 

 to state that he does not include in his calculations the pro- 

 longation of the oesophagus and four stomachs. 



Now, if we take into consideration the records of measure- 

 ments of the ^^rimce vice of both young and old animals given 

 by the several observers, including the present table, it follows 

 that the extent of the alimentary canal of the giraffe (as verily 

 that of other mammals) is in direct and relative proportion to 

 their age — a fact which in most respects would modify any 

 charge of error against either party. 



To the published accounts of the generative organs in both 

 sexes I can only annotate as subjoined. Ovary 2*7 inches 

 long by 1 inch broad, and as much thick. A dark-coloured 

 corpus luteum, 0'5 inch iu diameter, lay imbedded in the 

 pinkish stroma of the right ovarium ; its edge had just reached 

 the free surface of the latter. The remains of a similar corpus 

 luteum, lately burst, existed in the left ovarium ; and close 

 beside it there was a second, smaller one, 0*3 inch in diameter. 

 The vagina answered to Owen's description ; but the distance 



* See Crisp's second contribution, Proc. Zool. Soc 186G, p. 564. 



