78 THE SELOUS COLLECTION. 



SOUTH AFRICAN GIRAFFE. 



GlKAFFA CAMELOPAKDALIS CAPENSIS. 



Camelopardalis australis, Swainson, Geogr. and Classif. A.nim. p. 95, 1835. 

 Camelopardalis capensis, E. Geoffrey (?), teste Gray; Ogilby, Proc. Zool. 



Soc. 1836, p. 134, nom. imdum ; Lesson, Nouv. Tabl. Regne Anim. 



p. 168, 1842, ex Le Vaillant, Voyage Inter. Afrique, pis. viii. and ix., 



1790. 



Giraffa capensis, de Winton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1897, p. 277. 

 Giraffa Camelopardalis capensis, Major, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1902, vol. ii. p. 77. 



Size equal to that of rotJiscTiildi. Anterior horn reduced to an 

 inconspicuous lump. Colour pattern much the same, ground 

 colour dirty buff, and blotches dark brown, rather more indistinct 

 than in rothschildi; shanks deep tawny and spotted to hoofs. In 

 rotJiscliildi the spots on the legs do not extend beyond the hocks 

 and knees, and the ground colour of the shanks is almost white. 



Typical locality, South Africa, north of the Orange River. 

 Selous * gives the following information on the distribution of this 

 Giraffe in the year 1881: "This animal, though its range has 

 been sadly reduced since the days of Gordon Gumming, is never- 

 theless still to be found in considerable numbers over a vast extent 

 of country to the south of the Zambesi river. In parts of the 

 Kalahari desert it is said to abound, and in all the dry sandy 

 district between Bamangwato and Lake Ngami, and thence to the 

 Mababe, Chobe, and Zambesi rivers, it is also very numerous. 

 Along portions of the Botletlie river, and in the waterless but 

 forest-clad sand-belts on the southern bank of the Chobe, it is 

 particularly plentiful. In the country between the Chobe and the 

 Zambesi, the Giraffe is also found, in the neighbourhood of 

 Lin van ti ; but it is not nearly so numerous there as on the other 

 side of the former river. Immediately north of the Zambesi it is 

 unknown, though it appears to be plentiful in parts of Central and 

 Eastern Africa. In some parts of the Matabele country it is also 

 common, but until the last few years was never found eastwards of 

 the river Gwelo, though it was always very plentiful in the sand- 

 belts to the westward of that river " 



* A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa, p. 230, 1881. 



