THE CAMELEOPARD OF NORTH AFRICA. 



Camele.opardalis antiquorum. 



PLATE V. THE CAMELEOPARD. 



MODERN zoologists have considered that the northern 

 and southern regions of Africa possessed separate species 

 of this extraordinary animal, and have lately appropriated 

 to that of the north the title of " C. antiquorum" as being 

 the animal known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and 

 to the old Egyptians, as proved by the appearance of the 

 creature on the sculpture of the latter, and by the histories 

 of the former, which we have handed down with apparent 

 authenticity. We are ignorant, however, yet how far the 

 limits of each extend, but know that one or other of them 

 range from the most southern extremity of the Cape to the 

 very north ; not very uncommon in the more unexplored 

 regions, but rapidly decreasing wherever commencing civil- 

 ization has begun to plant her steps. 



The present figure is that of an' animal from the north, 

 taken in the vicinity of Senaar and Darfour ; and as it is in 

 this organ that the principal specific; distinctions appear, it 

 may serve for comparison with those from the southern part 

 of the continent. 



In both species, the immense length of neck, and the dis- 

 proportional height of the fore-quarter, compared with the 

 hinder, are the appearances which first strike an observer 

 as unwieldy, clumsy, and unfitted for an active life. The 

 food, however, is derived in a great measure from the 

 foliage of trees, particularly a species of Acacia (Acacia 

 Giraffa, Burch). It seizes the herbage or foliage with its 

 tongue, which is long and narrow, and which rolls round 



