ORDER RUMINANTIA. 151 



This affinity is indeed maintained by other characters, such 

 as the elevation of the anterior extremities, and of the 

 spinal processes of the shoulders, and the corresponding 

 depression of the posterior quarters, which seems to con- 

 nect it, through Bubalis, with the Acronotine group of our 

 proposed genus Damalis. The similitude of conformation 

 is further perceived in the general shape of the head, the 

 ears, the eyes, the body, and the tail; yet the Giraffa is 

 possessed of characters exclusively its own, for beside the 

 bony processes covered with skin, and surmounted with 

 strong bristly hairs, there is a spherical elevation on the fore- 

 head, elongated towards the nose ; the nose and lips resemble 

 that part in a horse, and the colour of the coat is dirty- white, 

 marked with large, approximating, angular, and somewhat 

 regular blotches of a dark-brown or rufous colour ; from the 

 back of the head to the end of the shoulders a short erect 

 mane passes down the neck, marked by alternate spaces 

 of black and white. From a comparison of these characters, 

 the Giraffa appears most naturally placed immediately 

 after the Muntjaks, and before the leading Cavicornia, or 

 that family of ruminants which is distinguished from all 

 the preceding by the possession of true horns. 



The name of Giraffa is derived from the Arabic Zura- 

 phahta, which is itself corrupted from Amharir Zirataka ; 

 and the Romans who had seen this animal several times 

 exhibited from the period of Caesar, described it under the 

 name of Camelopardalis, on account of its similarity to the 

 Camel in form, and to the Panther or Pardalis in spots. 

 Pliny, iElian, and Strabo, have noticed the animal, but the 

 first satisfactory description is found in the Mthio-pica of 

 Heliodorus, Bishop of Tricca. " The embassadors," he 

 says, " of the Axeomitae (Abyssinia,) brought presents to 

 Hydaspes, and among other things, there was an animal of 

 a strange and wonderful species, about the size of a camel, 

 which had its skin marked with florid spots ; the hinder 



