[ 5 ] 



sides of the face are uniformly coloured, while the dark blotches, in many 

 cases at least, are smaller, and the light interspaces wider. 



As already said, the East African forms described as tippelskirchi and 

 schillingsi appear to be intermediate between the northern and southern 

 races in these respects. Whether the giraffe from Nigeria described as 

 G. camelopardalis peralta (see page 509) is really a native of the country 

 where the type and only known example was obtained, and if so whether 

 it indicates a valid race, may for the present remain undecided. 



THE SOMALI GIRAFFE 



{Giraffa reticulata) 



The distinctness of this giraffe was first indicated by Mr. Rowland 

 Ward in the letter to The Field of 24th February 1 894, reproduced on page 

 507 of the work to which the present article is a supplement. His views, 

 however, were not accepted at the time. The heads represented in Figs. 

 2 and 3 of Plate XIV. of Great ami Small Game of Africa belong to this 

 species. All the figures of giraffes in the text likewise represent the 

 Somali species. 



The Somali giraffe (for which the name netted giraffe would be 

 appropriate, were it not that it has a double signification) may be described 

 as a dull red-coloured animal with a coarse network of narrow white lines 

 dividing the ground-colour into a number of large irregularly quadran- 

 gular and sharply defined patches. The head and upper part of the neck 

 are, however, spotted, while the ears and the legs from the knees and hocks 

 downwards are white. In old bulls the five horns are well developed, 

 although the hinder pair are somewhat less conspicuous than in the 

 northern race of the blotched species. 



Apparently this type of coloration is specially adapted for rendering the 



