772 ON THE NORTH RHODESIAN GIRAFFE. 



Rothschild and H. Neuville*, who state that in the East African. 

 Giraffe which they describe as rothschildi, but which — despite the 

 locality whence it is stated to come — is certainly tijjpelsMrchi, 

 these age and sex differences are observable. I have, however, 

 doubts whether they hold good in all cases ; and it is still possible,, 

 in spite of what I have previously written, that there may be one 

 form (schiUingsi) in which the shanks of adult bulls are white and 

 another {ti2Jj)elskirchi) in which they are fawn and spotted f, and 

 further, that these two types may intergrade. 



That the nearest relative of the Rhodesian Gii^affe is G. c. tip- 

 pelskirchi, may be considered certain. Of the latter I have had 

 for comparison the movinted head and neck of an adult male, a 

 mounted immature female, and the mounted head and neck of 

 a calf, as well as , a coloured plate in Messrs. de Rothschild and 

 Neuville's memoir J. 



Elaborating to a certain extent the foregoing brief diagnosis, 

 attention may be directed to the fact that tijipelshirchi and 

 tho7microfti agree (and thereby differ markedly from rothschildi) 

 in having the triangular space between the eye and the nostril 

 devoid of spots. In the adult male of tipj)elskirchi, however, the 

 '>-round-colour of the whole head is dirty greyish white, whereas^ 

 in thornicrofti the forehead is chestnut or umber-brown, deepening 

 into black at the tips of the horns, which are grey in the 

 Kilimanjaro race. 



In. the Rhodesian Giraffe the spots on the region behind the 

 eye and the side of the lower jaw ai'e very faintly marked, and 

 blackish grey in colour ; whereas in the Kilimanjaro bull they 

 ai-e larger, more numerous, and chocolate-brown in colour, being 

 deeper in tint than the neck-spots (this feature being also shown 

 in the immatui-e female and the calf). 



In thornicrofti the spots on the neck are burnt-umber in colour 

 and markedly elongated in form, with their terminal ends jagged. 

 There are about eight of them in the longitudinal row which 

 starts immediately in advance of the point of the shoulder. In 

 tippelskirchi they are more numerous (ten or eleven in what 

 appears to be the corresponding row), less elongated, and much 

 more irregular in shape. 



Compared with the young cow tippelskirchi, the spots on the 

 body of thornicrofti are less numerous, more especially on the 

 hind-quarters, while many of them are more deeply incised on one 

 side, although they are less jagged in general contour. The 

 spotting on the inner side of the thighs and of the upper part 

 of the fore-legs is also much less pronounced. In the original 

 description (which was drawn up when the specimen was in the 

 basement of the Museum) it is stated that the shanks of the 

 legs are uniformly fawn, but, as a matter of fact, they are 



* Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. ser. 9, vol. xiii. pp. 124, 129 (1911). 



t See Pi'oc. Zool. Soc. 1904, vol. i. p. 219. 



X Op. cit. pi. ii. fig. 1, lettered G-. c. rothschildi. 



