RUMINANTIA. 



193 



thighs in front are so long in comparison with those behind, that 

 the back of the animal seems inclined like the roof of a house; 

 and this gives to it an appearance of unwieldiness and unfitness 

 for active movements. But the seeming drawbacks related to its 

 structure and condition, are balanced by marked and peculiar 

 advantages. A man on horseback can, without stooping, ride 

 under the body of the animal, the height to the tip of the 

 shoulder being ten feet. Why that neck of prodigious length? 

 Why the disproportioned height of the fore and the hind parts of 

 the body, giving to the animal its appearance of unwieldiness 

 and clumsiness? The answer is, the animal derives a large 

 part of its food from the leaves of trees, particularly the mimosa, 

 a species of acacia, called acacia giraffe. The peculiarity of the 

 Giraffe s form enables it to reach the high branches which are 

 uncropped, because above the reach of ordinary animals; and a 

 shorter neck, on the other hand, would not have allowed it to 

 reach the earth in districts where woods are less common. In 

 reaching the high branches, it is also aided by the tongue, which 

 has the power of motion in such a degree, accompanied with the 

 faculty of extension, that it performs &quot;the office of the proboscis 

 of an elephant in miniature.&quot; This organ may be extended sev 

 enteen inches after death, but in the living animal, can lie so 

 diminished in size as to be inclosed within its mouth. Ac 

 cording to Sir Everard Home, its actions depend on the com 

 bined powers of muscular contraction and elasticity ; its increase 

 and diminution of size arising from the blood vessels being at 

 one time loaded with blood, and at another empty. The Cam- 

 elopard seizes the foliage with its long and narrow tongue, 

 using it as a prehensile organ, and a beautiful accessary to the 

 other parts of the structure, rolling it around the object with 

 considerable pliability. 



The tongue is used as an organ of examination, for the power 

 of prehension is so great, that when extended to the utmost, it 

 can grasp an ordinary lump of sugar, of which the animal seems 

 very fond. He retroverts the tongue for the purpose of cleansing 

 the nostrils, an office which its flexibility enables him to per- 

 form in the most perfect manner. The tongue, it is said, can be 

 so tapered as to enter the ring of a very small key. The eyes 

 are large and prominent, and soft and gentle in their expression ; 

 the ears large and spreading ; the lips, especially the lower one, 

 being movable ; the head is small, but elegantly modeled, taper 

 ing to the singularly narrow muzzle, with a well-formed mouth. 



Both the male and female Camelopard have horns, not such 

 as are periodically shed and renewed ; nor yet true and promi- 



