134 ON A YOUNG KORDOFAN GIRAFFE. [Mar. 3, 



in the adult, appealing as if a white muffler were tied round the 

 neck to the roots of the eai'S and forming a most conspicuous 

 pattern in both the parents of this young Giraffe, is present, but 

 is much less conspicuous. 



Along the length of the neck, and especially in front, the large 

 blotches are much more quadrangular, relatiA^ely larger, and more 

 closely set together- than in either the parents or the female 

 Nigerian Giraffe. Those on the dorso-lateral areas of the neck 

 are also more numerous and more closely set together than in the 

 parents or in the ISTigerian Giiaff'e, and are markedly asymmetrical 

 on the two sides. 



On the sides of the body the blotches of the yovmg Kordofan 

 Giraffe resemble those of its parents in being rather more 

 numerous and irregular and relatively smaller than in either the 

 Nubian Giraffe {G. c. typica) or the Nigerian form. I cannot quite 

 follow Mr, Lydekker, however, in the stress he lays on the colora- 

 tion of the upper parts of the limbs. He states [loc. cit. p. 206) that 

 the Kordofan Giraffe is " easily distinguishable " from the Nubian 

 foi'm by the " circumstance that in the fore-limb from just above 

 the line of the abdomen, and on the hind-limb halfway up the 

 thigh, the spots suddenly break ujd into a series of veiy small spots 

 of irregulaj- size and shape, similar spots occuii'iug on the undei-- 

 parts and inner sides of the limbs," The inner sides of the limbs 

 and the underparts have small spots as in the parents, and it is 

 just possible to describe the existence of a sudden change in the 

 size of the spots on the hind-limb, but hardly so in the case of the 

 fore-limb ; whilst in these respects it is quite impossible to separate 

 the young Kordofan Giraffe fi'om the young female Nigerian form. 

 I notice, moreover, that in the female Nubian Giraffe, of which 

 Mr. Lydekker gave a coloured plate {loc. cit. pi. x.), there is a 

 nearly sudden change in the spots. The lower parts of the legs 

 ai'e nearly colourless, as in the parents and in the Nubian and 

 Nigerian forms. 



This young Giraffe then, on the whole, conforms with its parents 

 in the characters selected by Mr. Lydekker as distinctive of the 

 Kordofan race, bvit certainly does not furnish additional evidence 

 for the discrimination. It will be interesting to see if as it grows 

 it comes to assvime these characters more definitely. Whilst at 

 first sight it resembles the young Nigerian female, a close com- 

 parison shows that in general tone it is a darker animal with more 

 numerous, smaller, and more closely-set spots, and that it agrees 

 with its parents, and does not agi'ee with the Nigerian form, in the 

 characters separating the Kordofan and Nigeiian Giraffes, 



