44 
GIRAFFE. 
from the ox kind, and other quadrupeds whose 
horns are hollow. Meanwhile we shall consider 
this large and beautiful animal as constituting a par- 
ticular and solitary genus, which corresponds very 
well with the other facts in Nature, who, in volumi- 
nous species, never doubles her productions. The 
elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and per- 
haps the giraffe, are animals forming particular 
genera, or solitary species, which have no collaterals. 
This is a privilege which seems to be conferred 
solely on animals that greatly surpass all others in 
magnitude. 
Buffon received the following description of this 
very singular quadruped from a friend in Holland : 
“ Africa produces no animal more beautiful or 
more curious than the giraffe. From the point of 
the nose to the tail, he is twenty-five feet long. He 
has received the name of camelopard, because he 
somewhat resembles the camel in the figure of his 
head, the length of his neck, &c., and because his 
robe is variegated with irregular spots, like that of 
the leopard. He is found at twenty-four leagues 
from the Cape of Good Hope, and is still more fre- 
quent at greater distances. The teeth of this ani- 
mal are similar to those of the stag. His horns are 
a foot long : they are straight as a man’s arm, gar- 
nished with hair, and seem to he truncated at their 
extremities. The neck constitutes at least one- 
half of the length of the animal, which in figure 
pretty much resembles that of a horse. The tail 
