274 ' MB. W. E. DB WIXTON ON THE [Feb. 16, 



the reason for the nomenclature of the two species being left in a 

 very unsettled state. 



The exhibition of the skin of a Sonialiland animal by Mr. 

 Oldfield Thomas, on behalf of Messrs. Rowland Ward & Co., at a 

 meeting of the Society on Feb. 20th, 1894, made me look into the 

 literature on the subject. Since then the British Museum has 

 been fortunate in augmenting the older material by heads of both 

 species received from the actual collectors — Mr. H. A. Bryden 

 having presented a head of the Southern form brought home by 

 Kama, killed in the North Kalahari ; and Mr. Arthur H. Neumann 

 a head of the Northern form, killed a little to the east of the 

 Loroghi Mountains and north of the Gruaso Nyiro (about 1° N. lat.); 

 besides which others have been acquired by purchase. 



I must express my thanks to the authorities of the Museum for 

 giving me every facility in examining the material in the National 

 Collection. I have also had access to several specimens contained 

 in private collections, and to the valuable collection of skulls in 

 the Royal College of Surgeons, kindly placed at my disposal by 

 Professor Stewart. That so few specimens of this extraordinary 

 animal find their way to this country is no doubt due to the value 

 set upon the hides in the countries where they are obtained, by the 

 natives for making shields, and by the settlers for " sjamboks," or 

 whips, the skin of the neck of a bull Giraffe standing second only 

 to Hippopotamus hide in value. Besides, the absence of attractive 

 horns does not commend the head in the eyes of sportsmen as a 

 trophy of sufficient value to repay them for the trouble and expense 

 of transporting such bulky material to the coast, so that all the 

 more credit is due to those generous and patriotic hunters who 

 have presented specimens to the National Collection. 



At the meeting of the Society when the above-mentioned 

 Sonialiland specimen was exhibited, Mr. Oldfield Thomas pointed 

 out the differences in the markings characteristic of the two forms ; 

 and in order to show that the Sonialiland animal did not need 

 description, as had been suggested, mentioned that Sundevall's 

 name would apply to the specimen under notice, but, pending the 

 arrival of a fresh wild-killed southern specimen to compare with it, 

 purposely ignored the obvious fact that Linnseus's name applied 

 solelv to the northern form. 



Etienne Geoffroy St.-Hilaire (Ann. Sci. Nat. 1827, p. 222) was 

 the first to mention any distinction between the Northern and 

 Southern Giraff'es, but seems never to have fulfilled his promise 

 to describe the two forms further and to give them specific 

 names, though he gives a plate of the skull of the " Giraffe du 

 Cap." 



Fischer (Syn. Mamm. 1829, p. 456) mentions this fact thus : 

 " Camelopardalin Sennaareiisem a Capensi specie differere Ge.offroy 

 aliique recentiores., notis tanien, quibus utraque distinguatur, nondum 

 indicatisT This sentence may have been considered sufficient to 

 constitute a naming of the two species, or perhaps, what is more 

 probable, specimens of the two forms were labelled sennaarensis 



