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The Museum Gazette 



THE GREAT FAMILY OF THE CAMELS 

 AND DEER. 



The Camel, the Camelopard, the Musk-deer and the Deer 

 are all more or less nearly related. They constitute a branch 

 of the great family of Ruminants, and all chew the cud. 

 With the Camel are associated the Bactrian or two-humped 

 Camel, the Alpaca, the Llama and the Vicuna. With the 

 Giraffe we have the Okapi, and several extinct animals. 

 The Musk-deer stands almost alone. Of Deer there are a 

 great many species. It is easy enough to distinguish these 

 various animals the one from the other when seen living 

 in a Zoological Garden or stuffed in a museum. Indeed, at 

 first sight, there might seem to be no great similarity between 

 a Camel, a Giraffe, and a Fallow-deer. To.. the student of 

 natural history, however, it becomes of great interest to 

 observe the essential peculiarities of each. These may be 

 grouped as those which prove relationship and those which 

 show differences. We will leave aside the very important 

 peculiarities in the stomach, because but few of our readers 

 will have opportunities for examining them, and will confine 

 our attention to the feet, horns, skull and teeth. All have 

 two hoofs or more, and the Camel group have behind their 

 hoofs a pad which covers the sole. None of them have 

 hollow horns, and in none are their weapons of offence — 

 horns, teeth, tusks, &c. — very effective. In all when adult 

 the cutting teeth (incisors) in the upper jaw are absent, and 

 in most the canines are either absent or much modified. 



.The Camel tribe differ from Giraffes in possessing a pad, 

 and in having, when young, incisor teeth in the upper jaw, 

 and fewer lower incisors by two. They have also strong 

 canines in both jaws, no trace of horns, and nothing to be 

 called tusks. 



The Giraffes have two, three, or even five abortive horns of 

 very peculiar development. They have very long necks, no 



