CAMELOPARDIDiE. MAMMALIA'! CeRVID.E. 173 
or third horn. If onr space permitted, we should be 
able to remove all doubt upon this point, having care- 
fully compared a number of crania together, and satis- 
fied ourselves as to the substaTitially correct views 
originally enunciated by Ruppel in “ Eeise in Nordlichen 
Afrika.” Another peculiarity in the cranium arises 
Fig. fi2. 
Front view of the Skull of the Giraffe. 
out of a remarkable extension of the frontal, ethmoidal, 
and sphenoidal cells (fig. 62). These form a series of 
large intercommunicating air cavities on the top of the 
bead, reaching from the middle of the face to the occi- 
put. Finally, the special elongation of the tongue, the 
jlrominent orbits, the powerful ligamentum nuclue, the 
long muzzle, the usual though not invariable absence 
of a gall-bladder, and some other minor peculiarities, 
satisfactorily demonstrate the legitimacy of the grounds 
on winch the Giraffe may be considered as the repre- 
sentative of a distinct family. 
THE GIEAFFE [Camelopardalis Giraffa), orCA.MEL- 
OPARD — Plate 22, fig. 73 — is a native of Abyssinia 
and tbe plains of Central Africa generally. It is a 
singularly beautiful and attractive creature, and is the 
tallest of all animals living on this planet — the head of 
a full-grown example occasionally reaching as much 
as eighteen feet, and the shoulders twelve feet, from 
the ground. The fur is short, whitish underneath, 
and marked throughout by angular fulvous red spots, 
which have a dark rusty tinge in the centre. The 
upper lip is extensile and undivided, the ears large, 
the eyes expressive, the body short, the tail being 
nearly three feet in length and tufted with black hair. 
The Giraffe is gTegarious in small troops. It is natu- 
rally gentle, timid, and docile, and, as Captain Harris 
observes, has no other means of protection than that 
afforded by the swing of the head and neck, and by 
the kicking of its heels, seldom employing the latter 
even when hemmed into a corner. The speed of 
Giraffes is considerable, and often secures the safety of 
these harmless animals ; their movements during flight 
being characteristic and peculiar. The limbs of either 
side do not, as is well knoum, move alternately, as in 
the trot of a horse ; but the fore and hind legs of one 
side are advanced almost at the same instant, so as to 
produce a swinging action of the body. Their tails 
are also partly raised and curled during flight, the 
tufted ends being restlessly switched to and fro. The 
Girafi'e feeds upon mimosa twigs and blossoms. In its 
selection it would appear to be guided rather by sight 
tb.an by taste or smell ; for Professor Owen mentions 
that one of the fine specimens preserved in the Zoologi- 
cal Society’s Gardens, Regent’s Park, observing a lady’s 
bonnet to present a very flowery aspect, suddenly, 
yet gently and politely, applied its extensile tongue 
to tbe gaudy trasb, and without further ceremony 
consigned the tokens of her vanity to the macerating 
influences of its capacious paunch ! In like manner 
the conceit of a peacock has been observed to subside 
under tbe magic touch of this lingual wand ; for the 
bird having invaded the paddock, one of the Giraffes 
took occasion, when the uplifted tail had duly displayed 
this poor bird’s pride, to gather a bunch of the bright- 
eyed feathers on his tongue, and swiftly raising the 
astonished intruder high into the air, gave him a vigor- 
ous shake, permitting him again to reach the paddock 
ground, from which lie hastily retreated to hide his 
diminished tail and head ! 
Family V.— CERVIDHU. 
The true stags and deer are at once distinguished by 
the presence of deciduous branching horns in the male; 
the females being in nearly all cases hornless. These 
organs vary much in character, being rounded in some 
species and flattened in others. They are in reality 
outgrowths from the cranium, and, being developed 
periodically, have an important jihysiological signifi- 
cance. Without detailing the anatomical and morpho- 
logical changes which these singular orgai'is annually 
undergo in the more typical forms, we deeiu it suffi- 
cient to indicate the peculiar jihenomena which are 
contemporaneously developed during the periodical 
renewal of the antlers ; and we do so in language we 
have elsewhere employed. A strong determination of 
blood to the head takes place at the spring of the j^ear, 
and the vessels surrounding the frontal eminences 
enlarge. This increased vascular action results in the 
secretion of a fibro-cartilaginous matrix, manifesting 
itself externally by a budding, commencing at the 
summit of the core, at the spot where the horns of the 
previous season had separated. In the early condition 
the horn is soft and yielding, and it is protected only 
by a higbly vascular periosteum and delicate integu- 
ment, the cuticular portion of the latter being repre- 
sented by numerous fine hairs closely arranged. F rom 
this circumstance the skin is here termed the “velvet.’’ 
As development goes on, a progressive consolidation 
