loir 



GIRAFFA. 



GlRAFFA. 



IfllS 



of elongation, he observes, beyond one inch in extent, in consequence ] destined to retract it. Professor Owen, in a note to his edition of 

 ;s cartilaginous tubes; while the tongue may be extended to 'Hunter's Animal (Economy* (8vo , London 1837) says "A moat 

 li inches after death, and can in the living body lie so diminished in ' 1 - : *~ 1 J *-"- 



the living body 

 size as to be inclosed within the animal's mouth. 



beautiful and forcible example of the use of tendon iu limiting the 



length of a muscle to the extent of motion required to be produced 

 ism, he remarks, must exist by which this elongation : in the part to be moved, occurs in the sterno-thyroidei of the Giraffe 

 y be performed, as in the tongue of the rein-deer ; but he states ! Had these muscles been continued fleshy as usual from their origin ' 

 that a post-mortein examination would be necessary to decide this. , through the whole length of the neck to their insertion it is obvious 

 i the organ as being very smooth ; that is, it is smooth when that a great proportion of the muscular fibres would have been 

 the papilla; are not raised, as they can be at pleasure, but rougher useless, because such a condition of the muscle would have been 

 nthey are, and slightly adhesive; it is spotted, but the spots are ! equal to have drawn down the larynx and os hyoides more 



not raised, and there is a 

 black rete mucosum, to pre- 

 vent, as he thinks, the sur- 

 face from being blistered by 

 the exposure to the sun. 

 "In the absence of an op- 

 portunity," continues Sir 

 Everard, "of examining the 

 internal structure of the 

 Xariffa's tongue after death, 

 I was led to the opinion 

 that the change of size is 

 effected by the organ con- 

 taining a reservoir, out of 

 the course of the circulation, 

 which can be filled with 

 blood at the will of the 

 animal, so as to give it 

 rigidity, and enable it to 

 extend itself for the per- 

 formance of the different 

 actions in which it is em- 

 ployed with the smallest 

 possible degree of muscular 

 exertion. It occurred to 

 me at the same time, that 

 whatever construction may 

 be the means by which the 

 Xariffa's tongue is able to 

 apply itself to such various 

 purposes, whether that 

 which appeared to me pro- 

 bable, or any other, some- 

 thing similar would be met 

 with in other animals, par- 

 ticularly in the tongue of 

 the deer, which, after death, 

 readily admits of being 

 drawn out to the extent of 

 8 inches, although when 

 immersed in rectified spirits 

 it contracts to 5 inches. 

 For the purpose of such 

 an examination, a deer's 

 tongue, recently after the 

 animal's death, was injected 

 with minute red injection, 

 so as to distend the arteries 

 and show the course of the 

 circulation in them to the 

 greatest advantage. This 

 tongue was afterwards di- 

 rided longitudinally in a 

 perpendicular direction, also 

 in a horizontal one, to show 

 the muscles of which it 

 is composed, as well as the 

 other parts that it con- 

 tained." From this examination, the structure of the tongue 

 of quadrupeds in general is described by Sir Everard as being 

 longitudinally divided into two equal portions by a middle line ; 

 the muscular structure occupies the whole of the interior sub- 

 f\tance, receiving a large supply of nerves and bloodvessels from a 

 lateral nerve and artery that pass along the outer edge ; these are 

 imbedded in a very loose cellular tissue, the texture of which admits 

 of the bloodvessels being distended to a very great degree, so as to 

 enlarge the volume of the tongue ; and beyond this tissue, surround- 

 ing and forming a case for the whole of the upper and lateral part of 

 the organ, is a strong very elastic covering of some thickness, which 

 yields when the muscles and the trunks of the arteries are distended 

 with blood, so as to give both extent and rigidity to the organ, and 

 admit of the different actions in which it is employed. Sir Everard 

 then adds, that there can be no doubt of the structure of the Xariffa's 

 tongue being the same ; its actions depending upon the combined 

 powers of muscular contraction and elasticity ; its increase and dimi- 

 nution of size arising from the bloodvessels being at one time loaded 

 with blood and at another empty. 

 The chief modification in the muscles of the tongue in in those 



Skeleton of Giraffe ; the curved outline from the posterior edge of the scapula shows the 

 position of the clastic cartilage above alluded to. 



than one-third of the ex- 

 tent of the neck, which is 

 neither required nor per- 

 mitted by the mechanical 

 attachments of the parts. 

 The sterno-thyroidei there- 

 fore proceed from the head 

 of the sternum blended 

 together in one fleshy fasci- 

 culus for about 9 inches, 

 and end in a tendon which 

 is continued for 6 inches; 

 this then divides, and the 

 muscles proceed again 

 fleshy for about 16 inches, 

 when a second tendon in- 

 tervenes in each between 

 the preceding and the next 

 fleshy portion, which is 

 finally inserted into the 

 thyroid cartilage, and by a 

 continued fascia into the os 

 hyoides : thus the quantity 

 of contractile fibre is propor- 

 tioned to the required extent 

 of motion by intervening 

 tendons ; the steruo-hyoidei 

 being wanting, or their 

 place supplied by the sterno- 

 thyroidei, as in some other 

 ruminants. The analogue 

 of the omo-hyoideus is in 

 the same animal adjusted to 

 its office by a different and 

 more simple modification; 

 its origin is removed from 

 the shoulder-blade to the 

 nearest point (the third 

 cervical vertebra), from 

 which it could act with the 

 requisite force and extent 

 upon the os hyoides." 



Sir Everard Home fancied 

 that the Giraffe on which 

 he made his observations, 

 the individual belonging to 

 George IV., preferred lick- 

 ing the hand of a lady to 

 that of a man. Mr. Davis, 

 who saw a great deal of the 

 animal, never observed this. 

 It may be easily believed 

 that the animal distin- 

 guished the fair hand 

 from which it received 

 gifts and attention ; but 

 certainly the giraffes in the 

 Zoological Garden at the 

 Regent's Park exhibit no such preference. They appear to use their 

 tongues generally as organs of examination, and the power of 

 prehension is so great that we have seen the tongue, when extended 

 to the utmost, grasp an ordinary lump of sugar, of which the animals 

 seem very fond, and convey it into the mouth. We have also observed 

 the giraffes retrovert the tongue for the purpose of cleaning the 

 nostrils, an office which its flexibility enables it to perform in the most 

 perfect manner. The utility of such a power of prehension and 

 extension to an animal whose principal food consists of the leaves 

 and slender twigs of trees is manifest. Mr. Davis says that the tongue 

 can be so tapered as to enter the ring of a very small key. 



With regard to the stomach and digestive organs generally, the 

 Giraffe, it is true, wants the receptacle for water which the camel and 

 dromedary possess. There are no water-cells belonging to the rumen 

 as there are in Camelidce ; and this part of the structure is, as 

 Professor Owen points out, fashioned according to the horned rumi- 

 nant type. But he also shows that the reticulum is not, as stated by 

 Sir Everard Home, " destitute of the cellular structure met with in 

 other ruminants," but that it has cells, though very shallow ones, as 

 in the rein-deer. Professor Owen further states that the coils of the 



