GIRAFFE 355 



the culmination of this type being presented by the Somali G. 

 reticulata. Here, however, as in the case of the horns, the progression 

 is by no means regular, since we find in East Africa a strong tendency 

 to the development of a star-like type of coloration. Indeed, it would 

 seem that in this part of the continent giraffes have, so to speak, got 

 completely off the line, and run riot, both in the matter of coloration 

 and horn-development. 



" By no means the least noteworthy feature in regard to the change 

 of the type of coloration in giraffes as we proceed from South to 

 North-east Africa is that it is precisely the reverse of that among the 



FIG. 68. Skull of Nubian Giraffe (from de Winton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1897). 



quaggas and bonte-quaggas. That is to say, that whereas among the 

 various races of giraffe the general colour lightens and the legs pass 

 from spotted to pure white as we go from south to north, among the 

 local forms of Equus burchelli the stripes on the legs, under-parts, and 

 hind-quarters, which are fully developed in the northern types, such 

 as E. b. granti, have disappeared more or less completely in the 

 southern forms, the supreme development in this respect being reached 

 by the true quagga." 



The first local representative of the species is the Nubian race 

 (G. c. typica) of upper Nubia and Abyssinia, which agrees with 

 several of the other northern races in the presence of a large frontal 

 horn in the bulls, and by the fore-legs being white and unspotted 



