CAMELOPARDIDJ 



-MAMMALIA. CERVIDJE. 



173 



or third horn. If our space permitted, we should be 

 able to remove all doubt upon this point, having care- 

 fully compared a number of crania together, and satis- 

 fied ourselves as to the substantially correct views 

 originally enunciated by Ruppel in " Reise in Nordlichen 

 Afrika." Another peculiarity in the cranium arises 



Front view of the Skull of the Giraffe. 



out of a remarkable extension of the frontal, ethmoidal, 

 and sphenoidal cells (fig. 62). These form a series of 

 large intercommunicating air cavities on the top of the 

 head, reaching from the middle of the face to the occi- 

 put. Finally, the special elongation of the tongue, the 

 prominent orbits, the powerful ligamentum nuchse, the 

 long muzzle, the usual though not invariable absence 

 of a gall-bladder, and some other minor peculiarities, 

 satisfactorily demonstrate the legitimacy of the grounds 

 on which the Giraffe may be considered as the repre- 

 sentative of a distinct family. 



THE GIRAFFE (Camelopardalis Giraffa), or CAMEL- 

 OPARD Plate 22, fig. 73 is a native of Abyssinia 

 and the plains of Central Africa generally. It is a 

 singularly beautiful and attractive creature, and is the 

 tallest of all animals living on this planet the head of 

 a full-grown example occasionally reaching as much 

 as eighteen feet, and the shoulders twelve feet, from 

 the ground. The fur is short, whitish underneath, 

 and marked throughout by angular fulvous red spots, 

 which have a dark rusty tinge in the centre. The 

 upper lip is extensile and undivided, the ears large, 

 the eyes expressive, the body short, the tail being 

 nearly three feet in length and tufted with black hair. 

 The Giraffe is gregarious in small troops. It is natu- 

 rally gentle, timid, and docile, and, as Captain Harris 



observes, has no other means of protection than that 

 afforded by the swing of the head and neck, and by 

 the kicking of its heels, seldom employing the latter 

 even when hemmed into a corner. The speed of 

 Giraffes is considerable, and often secures the safety of 

 these harmless animals ; their movements during flight 

 being characteristic and peculiar. The limbs of either 

 side do not, as is well known, move alternately, as in 

 the trot of a horse ; but the fore and hind legs of one 

 side are advanced almost at the same instant, so as to 

 produce a swinging action of the body. Their tails 

 are also partly raised and curled during flight, the 

 tufted ends being restlessly switched to and fro. The 

 Giraffe feeds upon mimosa twigs and blossoms. In its 

 selection it would appear to be guided rather by sight 

 than by taste or smell ; for Professor Owen mentions 

 that one of the fine specimens preserved in the Zoologi- 

 cal Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, observing a lady's 

 bonnet to present a very flowery aspect, suddenly, 

 yet gently and politely, applied its extensile tongue 

 to the gaudy trash, and without further ceremony 

 consigned the tokens of her vanity to the macerating 

 influences of its capacious paunch ! In like manner 

 the conceit of a peacock has been observed to subside 

 under the magic touch of this lingual wand ; for the 

 bird having invaded the paddock, one of the Giraffes 

 took occasion, when the uplifted tail had duly displayed 

 this poor bird's pride, to gather a bunch of the bright- 

 eyed feathers on his tongue, and swiftly raising the 

 astonished intruder high- into the air, gave him a vigor- 

 ous shake, permitting him again to reach the paddock 

 ground, from which he hastily retreated to hide his 

 diminished tail and head ! 



FAMILY V. CERVID^E. 



The true stags and deer are at once distinguished by 

 the presence of deciduous branching horns in the male; 

 the females being in nearly all cases hornless. These 

 organs vary much in character, being rounded in some 

 species and flattened in others. They are in reality 

 outgrowths from the cranium, and, being developed 

 periodically, have an important physiological signifi- 

 cance. Without detailing the anatomical and morpho- 

 logical changes which these singular organs annually 

 undergo in the more typical forms, we deem it suffi- 

 cient to indicate the peculiar phenomena which are 

 contemporaneously developed during the periodical 

 renewal of the antlers ; and we do so in language we 

 have elsewhere employed. A strong determination of 

 blood to the head takes place at the spring of the year, 

 and the vessels surrounding the frontal eminences 

 enlarge. This increased vascular action results in the 

 secretion of a fibro-cartilaginous matrix, manifesting 

 itself externally by a budding, commencing at the 

 summit of the core, at the spot where the horns of the 

 previous season had separated. In the early condition 

 the horn is soft and yielding, and it is protected only 

 by a highly vascular periosteum and delicate integu- 

 ment, the cuticular portion of the latter being repre- 

 sented by numerous fine hairs closely arranged. From 

 this circumstance the skin is here termed the "velvet.'' 

 As development goes on, a progressive consolidation 



