481 Dr. T, S. Cobbold on the Anatomy of the Giraffe. 



I have seen the single specimen in the Museum of the Jardiu 

 des Plantes at Paris, upon which the Prince Charles Bonaparte 

 established this new species. I must confess I should like to see 

 more examples of it ; as it appears to me to be very possibly 

 nothing more than the small variety of the preceding type-species 

 with an accidental white bar on the wing. But I did not make 

 a very accurate examination of it, and the Prince Charles Bona- 

 ])arte has had a much better opportunity of deciding whether it 

 is a good species than I have. To his authority I defer. 



XLVI. — On the Anatomy of the Giraffe (Camelopardalis giraffa, 

 Linn.). By T. Spencer Cobbold, M.D., Conservator of the 

 Anatomical Museum, University of Edinburgh*. 



I HAVE already communicated to the Physiological Society of 

 this city a few of the results obtained by a careful dissection and 

 evisceration of the carcase of a Giraffe. Subsequent examination 

 of the parts then removed has furnished me with additional 

 details, to which, in connection with the above, I now beg to 

 direct your attention. 



The animal recently formed an attractive feature in the col- 

 lection well known as Wombwell's Travelling Menagerie. From 

 one of the keepers I ascertained that it had been in this country 

 only seven months ; in height it was about 14 feet, and was 

 believed to be rather more than two years old. Until a very 

 short while before death no symptoms of disease had been de- 

 tected, and the creature was regarded as an exceedingly healthy 

 specimen. I understood that no fewer than six individuals of 

 this interesting genus (which comprises but this one species) had 

 been purchased at different times for the collection, but each of 

 them, as in the present instance, expired before it had been eight 

 months in WombwelFs possession. This cannot surprise us, as 

 we well know that in spite of all the painstaking and expense 

 incurred in endeavouring to keep them alive, no such effort can 

 prove successful, unless a roomy apartment and numerous other 

 desiderata be supplied, such as are so advantageously afforded 

 in the case of those kept in the London Zoological Society's 

 Gardens, Regent's Park. 



In the Giraffe under consideration, the first unfavourable in- 

 dications appeared in the fore-limbs ; these symptoms were attri- 

 buted to the severity of the cold which prevailed here in the 

 winter season. The usual remedies were applied, but the extre- 

 mities gradually gave way until complete paralysis supervened, 

 and the animal sank about eight days after the first traces of 

 internal disturbance. 



* Read to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, April 5th, 1854. 



