22 



The Museum Gazette 



Natural History Branch of the British Museum (South Ken- 

 sington). This group comprises illustrations of the different 

 markings in animals from North and South Africa. All 

 gradations may be traced from the mapping shown in our 

 portrait to the spotted arrangement more commonly given in 

 our standard books. Skulls are also there, and we have also 

 a stuffed representative of the related Okapi. Of this animal 

 as yet no living specimen has reached Europe. For the skin 

 and skull now exhibited the Museum is indebted to Sir Harry 

 Johnston. The animal is much smaller than a giraffe, and 

 has a short stout neck like that of a zebra. The stumps for 

 horns are represented by only twisted tufts of hair. 



A map showing the distribution of eleven local races of 

 Giraffes is accompanied by the following label : — 



" Apart from the very distinct Somali Giraffe (G. reticu- 

 lata), characterised by its liver-red colour, marked with a 

 very coarse network of fine white lines, there are numerous 

 local forms of the ordinary Giraffe (Giraffa camelopavdalis). 

 The Northern races, such as the Nubian G. c. typica and the 

 Kordofan G. c. antiquovum, are characterised by the large 

 frontal horn of the bulls, the white legs, the network type of 

 coloration and the pale tint. The latter feature is specially 

 developed in the Nigerian G. c. peralta, which is also of the 

 Northern type. The Barongo G. c. rothschildi also has a 

 large frontal horn and white legs, but the spots in the bulls 

 are very dark, and those of the females jagged. In the Kili- 

 manjaro G. c. tippelskirchi the frontal horn is often developed 

 in the bulls, but the legs are frequently spotted to the fet- 

 locks. Further south the frontal horn tends to disappear 

 more or less completely, as in the Angola G. c. angolensis, the 

 Transvaal G. c. wardi, and the Cape G. c. capensis, while the 

 legs are fully spotted, and the colour pattern on the body 

 (especially in the last-named) is more of a blotched type, that 

 is to say, consists of dark blocks on fawn ground, instead of 

 a network of light lines on a dark ground." 



