1907.] HORNS OF THE GIRAFFE. 105 



five years ago the actual skull of the newly-bovn Giraffe examined 

 by Owen, and still preserved at the Royal College of Surgeons. 

 The whole of the frontal and parietal regions had been cut away 

 from the skull and the pieces could not be found. There was 

 no evidence to be obtained from the specimen as to what really 

 was the nature of the bone x (in text-fig. 29) and the bone y. I 

 formed the hypothesis that Owen had had the horn-bearing region 

 cut out and a section made by an assistant. The section is that 

 which he figured and is here copied. But the piece having been 

 detached from the rest of the skull, Owen seems to have mistaken 

 right for left and back for front, so that in reality the bone 

 marked x is the parietal and the bone marked ?/ is the frontal ; 

 and the yoimg horn or ossicone is resting on the parietal as it 

 does in the later stages of growth, and not on the frontal as 

 supposed by Owen. 



I could not test the truth of this hypothesis without examining 

 myself a newly- born Giraffe or a well-advanced fcetus, and accord- 

 ingly I have made efforts to obtain such a specimen by application 

 to the officials of the late African Department of the Foreign 

 Ofiice and to those of the Colonial Oflice, as well as to naturalists 

 and sportsmen. ISTo newly-born or foetal Giraffe came to hand, nor 

 could I hear of one as being preserved in any Museum in Europe. 

 Accordingly I was very grateful when last summer our Secretary 

 was able to place at my disposal the foetal Giraffe which was 

 removed fi-om its mother after her death in the Gardens in April 

 1906. This foetal Giraffe was figured and described in a general 

 way by Mr. Beddard (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1906, p. 626), but the 

 examination of the skull was kindly left to me. The dead 

 mother of this foetus was a South-African (Transvaal) Giraffe 

 (^Gr, camelo2}arclalis tvardi) and the father a Kordofan specimen 

 (G. ca7nelopardcdis antiquorum). Mr. Beddard has given the 

 dimensions of the foetus, and has estimated that it had probably 

 completed two-thirds of its foetal life. He has pointed out and 

 figured the large size of the incipient lateral horns, and their 

 free extremities tufted with long hair, and has noted that their 

 substance is of a gristle-like consistency. 



Soon after I received the specimen, the integument (C) was 

 reflected from the right side of the fronto-parietal region of the 

 head, under my supervision, by my assistant Dr. Ridewood ; and 

 by subsequent reflection of part of the periosteum the view 

 obtained which is given in text-figure 30. The integument of 

 the right side of the head (C) was thrown back, and the periosteum 

 of the parietal bone was reflected (D) excepting that part lying 

 beneath and forming the base of the right lateral horn. This was 

 pinned down and cut away from the rest of the periosteum, leaving 

 it as an oval area A, marking exactly the position of the ossicone 

 (fibrous and soft) on the parietal bone. In the drawing the suture 

 separating the frontal from the parietal bone is seen (sut.), and it 

 is demonstrated that the base of the young lateral horn or ossicone 

 is wholly within the area of the parietal bone, to the periosteum 

 of which it is loosely attached by connective tissue. 



