THE EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 363 



bladder, etc.) has ceased to progress with the rest of the group, 

 while in some few (musk gland, mobile feet) it has taken a special 

 line of advance of its own." This interesting animal has gained 

 its popular name of the Musk from a gland on the surface of the 

 abdomen of the male, about the size of a hen's egg. The whole 

 gland, or " pod," is cut out and sold in this condition to the scent 

 manufacturers. The odour from the freshly-extracted gland is 

 said to be so overpowering that the hunters are obliged to cover 

 the nose and mouth with linen when removing it from the body of 

 the animal. The Musk is about three feet in height ; the ears are 

 large, and the mouth provided with enormous canine tusks which 

 are used for digging up roots. The hoofs are small, but their 

 spread is large because of the yielding attachment of the false 

 hoofs, as in the reindeer. The coat, of coarse and brittle hair, 

 is grey and slightly brindled. The animal is a native of Central 

 Asia, from the Himalaya Mountains to Pekin. 



The Giraffe is another aberrant member of the group, present- 

 ing peculiarities in its organisation which separate it from the 

 deer on the one hand, and the Hollow-Horned Ruminants on the 

 other. In both these groups the appendages on the head, whether 

 developed as antlers or as horns, are distinct prolongations from 

 the forehead bones themselves. In the Giraffe, however, the three 

 bony appendages, one median and two lateral, all covered with 

 skin, instead of being produced as outgrowths from any portion 

 of the skull, are separate and independent conical, bony " processes," 

 which stand upon the skull, capping roughened conical pro- 

 minences destined to support them. 1 They are present in the 

 female as well as in the male, and well developed even in the newly- 

 born calf. The neck, which on account of its great length is such 

 a striking and characteristic feature, nevertheless consists only of 

 the normal seven vertebrae which go to form the neck of a mam- 

 malian animal. Limited in range to the African continent, there 

 are two distinct species of Giraffe, one found in Somaliland, and 

 the other in South Africa. The word Giraffe means in Arabic, 

 literally, " one who walks swiftly." While the inordinate length of 

 neck is generally supposed to have some relation to the animal 

 browsing off the foliage of trees, a more ingenious explanation 

 refers to its value as a watch tower, enabling the Giraffe to keep 



1 Prof. Garrod, F.R.S. 



