206 VERTEBRATA. - MAMMALIA. 



CamelopardaliSj* the Giraffe. 



We have just seen Deer which have their small 

 horns elevated on a lengthened pedestal, which is 

 permanent : we next find a genus which has the 

 pedestal alone, bony, permanent, and clothed with 

 a hairy skin. There is also a sort of knob in the 

 centre of the forehead. These, like the horns of 

 the Deer, are joined to the skull by a suture, though 

 they are never shed in either of the sexes. The 

 animals are exclusively African, and most zoologists 

 now are of opinion that there are two species, that 

 from the North, the Nubian Giraffe (C. Antiquo- 

 rum), the species so often introduced into the Roman 

 Amphitheatre, and that from the Cape (C. Giro/a). 

 The differences, however, are not external. The 

 specimens at present existing and breeding in the 

 Zoological Gardens are of the former species. 

 From the great length of the neck, and the 

 height of the fore-shoulder, the animal is of very 

 singular, but graceful form, and its face, correspond- 

 ing with its disposition, has all the meek and gentle 

 expression of its Order. The ground colour is pale 

 drab, profusely marked with large irregular angu- 

 lar spots of dark fawn, which answer in shape to 

 each other, leaving narrow interstices of the light 

 ground. This design of colouring is also found in 

 some of the Antelopes. The height is from eighteen 

 to twenty-two feet, strongly contrasting with the little 

 Musks and Blauw-bok. The food of the animal is the 



, camelos, a camel, and <T^;UJ, pardafe, a panther. 



