120 CHARACTERS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS 



greater height of the front part of the body. The head is de- 

 cidedly graceful, the long tail is tufted, and there is no trace of 

 accessory hoofs at the sides of the feet. As in sheep, &c., the 

 upper incisors and canines are replaced by a horny pad. A very 

 distinctive external feature consists in the possession of two short 

 rounded horns, consisting of a bony core covered by soft skin. 

 There is also a rounded skin-covered knob between the eyes. 



Fig. 82. The Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis}. (From an instantaneous photograph) 



The protrusible tongue is extremely flexible, and serves as a 

 grasping organ for seizing the twigs of trees. 



6. The Camel Family is the last to be mentioned under the 

 heading of Ruminants. The head is devoid of horns and placed 

 at the end of a long curved neck. The limbs are elongated, and 

 each of them terminates in two toes only, while the hoofs are 

 replaced by pad -like swellings on the under side of the foot. 

 Further characteristics are the split upper lip, incisors in the upper 

 jaw, and well-developed canines both above and below. The 

 family includes the camels of the Old World, and the llamas, 

 with allied forms, in the New World. 



Camels, which are now unknown as wild animals, though ad- 

 mittedly invaluable domestic forms, are decidedly ugly if measured 

 by our standards of good looks ; nor do they make up by amiability 



