22 



The number of ribs was fourteen pairs, seven true and seven false. 

 The first pair was straight, the rest became gradually more and 

 more curs'cd to the last. They increased in length to the eighth, and 

 then gradually became shorter : in length the increase was to the 

 fifth, from which they gradually became narrower. 



The sternum consisted of a single series of six bones, and an ensi- 

 form cartilage ; it was chiefly remarkable for its great curvature. 

 The first sternal bone was the narrowest and longest ; the succeed- 

 ing ones progressively diminished in length, and increased in thick- 

 ness. 



As the osteology of the Giraffe has been illustrated by Pander 

 and D'Alton, and also described with more detail in the second edi- 

 tion of Cuvier's Lerons d' Anatomic Compar^e, Mr. Owen considers it 

 Unnecessary to treat at large of the rest of the skeleton, merely gi- 

 ving a brief notice of the several bones of the extremities : in con- 

 clusion, he remarks that the order Ruminantia, perhaps the most na- 

 tural in the mammiferous class, if we look to the condition of the 

 organs of nutrition, presents, however, more variet)'- than any of the 

 carnivorous orders, in the local development of the organs of rela- 

 tion, and the consequent modification of external form : the most 

 remarkable of these modifications is undoubtedly that which we ad- 

 mire in the Giraff'e, and the anatomical peculiarities, which its internal 

 organization presents, are principally confined to the skeleton in re- 

 spect to the proportions of its different parts ; and to those parts of 

 the muscular and nervous systems immediately relating to the local 

 peculiarities in the development of the osseous framework. 



