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full. Between them is a prominent swelling. His tongue is rough, and terminates in a point. The two jaws have on each side six molar teeth, but the lower jaw has beyond these eight cutting teeth, while the upper jaw has none.

"The hoofs have no nails, and are cleft like those of the ox. The legs are very slender, but the knees have a prominence, because the animal kneels when he lies down. This mode of lying down is very curious, and peculiar. His defence, as that of the horse and other hoofed animals, consists in kicks; his hinder limbs are so light, and his blows so rapid, that the eye cannot follow them. They are sufficient for his defence against the lion, the construction of his eye enabling him to see his enemy on every side. He never employs his horns in resisting any attack. hide, which is at first of a light red, becomes of a deeper colour as the animal advances in age, and is at length of a yellow brown in the female, and of a brown, approaching to black, in the male. By this difference of colour, they may be distinguished from each other at a distance. The skin

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varies in both sexes as to the distribution and form of the dark spots with which it is dotted." Shaw says, "that from their singular form and colour, they appear at a distance like decayed trees." When pursued they trot so fast, that a good horse is scarcely able to keep pace with them. When they leap, it is in the manner of a horse whose forelegs are tied together. In confinement it seems not to have the sense of stepping over any obstruction, however low, neither does it make any attempt to graze. In the "Menagerie" is an interesting account of the tongue of the giraffe, taken from a memoir upon it by Sir Everard Home, from which we will select a short description. "The tongue of the giraffe has so many peculiarities as, in my opinion, give it a claim to be considered separately from the tongues of other animals. It not only is the organ of taste, but has, besides, all the powers of the proboscis of the elephant, although not possessed of the same strength. They differ, indeed, in one being an elongation of the organ of smell,—the other of the organ of taste. The proboscis can be elongated

but one inch by means of the cartilaginous tubes it contains, but the giraffe's tongue, which, when dead, is seventeen inches long, can, in the living body, be so diminished in size as to be enclosed in the animal's mouth. The peculiarities found in the tongue of the giraffe are not extended to the camel or dromedary. These animals have a provision of another kind to enable them to inhabit the sandy desert; this is a reservoir connected with the stomach, in which they carry a supply of water, and which is probably wanting in the giraffe, or of a smaller size. In lieu of it, this animal has at all times a power of feeding on plants that are alive and full of moisture. As the sandy desert is without trees, we have a proof of its not being the giraffe's native soil, and find that, instead of the padded hoofs, whose cushion is fitted for travelling on the sand, it has two toes separated from each other, which are defended by a strong horny covering, enabling it to climb the higher rocky ground without stumbling, that it may have every facility in obtaining the branches and leaves of trees-its natural food; its neck

is of a greater length than that of any animal of the same size, and is composed of only seven bones, exactly the same number as in the human throat. This is evidently adapted for its reaching its food, and the smaller number of joints allows it to be kept erect at the least muscular exertion. The tongue is smooth, spotted, and slightly adhesive. They apply this organ to the leaves, before they carry them to the mouth, and are thus enabled to reject noxious plants. As the tongue in tasting and procuring its food is much exposed to the sun's rays, it is furnished with a black rete mucosum (black mucous membrane,) to prevent its being blistered."

In 1827, the Pacha of Egypt presented a living giraffe to George IV., but, after the greatest care and attention, it died in 1829. A correspondent of the "Penny Magazine” gives an interesting account of this animal previous to its arrival in England. "I happened," said he, "to be at Malta when it arrived in that island, from Egypt. The governor, Sir F. Ponsonby, provided it with a very pleasant and appropriate lodging in

the grounds of his villa of Sant Antonio, where I saw it several times, with its two African keepers, who had attended it so far. The sultry, dry climate of Malta seemed to agree with it very well. There were no trees on that dry, arid rock, tall enough to require the length of his neck, the tallest at Sant Antonio were not much higher than its legs; and it was exceedingly pretty to see with what grace the creature bent its long, elastic neck, and brought its small, deer-like head to play with their topmost branches. It only played with them. The Africans fed him regularly with some sort of dry provender, and when they. appeared it was accustomed to show considerable animation, though I never saw it so far forget its dignity as to run; on the contrary, it walked to them with very stately steps. Its eye was then particularly bright and beautiful, and the whole appearance of the animal very different to what I have heard described after its arrival in England.

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"The day it was embarked it did not look so well as usual. It was put on board a large new merchantman lately built at Malta. When it was

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