246 



A COURSE ON ZOOLOGY. 



exceedingly graceful, and sometimes of great length ; 

 for example, the gemsbok is about four feet high at the 

 shoulder, and its horns are two and a half feet long. 

 These animals are all very active, very sure-footed ; the 

 chamois can leap over a chasm fifteen feet wide, or over 

 a wall fourteen feet high. 



On the prairies of Western North America is found 

 the only known member of a family of ruminants whose 

 horns are hollow, deciduous, and having one short 

 branch. This is the prong-horn, and is generally called 

 antelope. It seems to relate the cervidse and the 

 bovidse, and the family is called antilocapridse. 



Giraffidae. The 



FJG - 185 - horns of the giraffes 



are not hollow, but 

 solid, and consist 

 simply of processes 

 of the frontal bone, 

 which are covered 

 by the skin. These 

 horns are persistent. 

 The giraffes are well 

 known by their re- 

 markably long necks 

 and legs, the head 

 being eighteen feet 

 above the ground. 

 They are found in 

 Africa. 



GIRAFFE (Camelopardalis giraffa). Camelidae. This 



family includes the 



camels and llamas. They have no horns, and they are 

 the only ruminants having a pair of upper incisors. The 



