OCR Text |
Show 1 2 0 MR. R. LYDEKKER OK THE [Feb. 21, Tlie skull shows no very marked difference from that of the Nubian Giraffe, with which it agrees in the comparatively slight development of the rudimentary occipital horns. The main horns are somewhat smaller and more slender, and the ridge between them is perhaps somewhat less elevated ; while the anterior horn is remarkable for the great length and rugosity of its base. Whether these features are of any importance can only be determined when other specimens are available. All that can be said at present is that the skull of the Nigerian race is certainly somewhat longer and more slender than that of the typical Nubian form. As regards coloration, the most striking feature of the Nigerian Giraffe is its extreme paleness-this being very markedly shown in the head and neck (PI. X II. figs. 1, 2). This paleness is indeed much more marked than in even immature bulls of the Nubian race. The whole head may, in fact, be said to be whitish, relieved only by some pale fawn spots on the side of the face below the line of the eye, and by a dash of still paler (sandy) fawn on the forehead and the middle line of the face. Two irregular blotches of darker fawn immediately behind each nostril are very conspicuous; they occur indeed in the Nubian Giraffe, but in that form they agree in colour with, and are joined to, the darker fawn of the middle line of the face. The Pale-faced, or White-faced, Giraffe would be an excellent distinctive name for this race, were we at liberty to ignore the term peralta, which, I fear, is somewhat misleading. On the neck the blotches are of a somewhat darker fawn on a wliity-brown ground. These blotches are very large, few in number, and separated by very wide interspaces, so that the coloration can scarcely be described as of the " netted " type. In shape the blotches are irregular and much elongated, and at their edges they shade off almost imperceptibly into the groundcolour. They are quite different in size and disposition from those of the Nubian Giraffe. The occipital region (PI. X II. fig. 1) is white, with a very few large spots ; and below the ears is a very large fawn blotch covering an area which in the Nubian Giraffe is white, and in all other Giraffes (PI. X II. fig. 2) is marked with small spots. As regards the body-skin, it may be mentioned that the spots on the back are pale chestnut-brown, with trefoil-shaped dark brown centres. Towards the hind-quarters the colour of the spots gradually lightens, and on the hind-limbs it becomes very pale fawn. The spots on the back are darker than in the male of G. c. typica figured in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1904, vol. i. pi. ix., but such a difference may be due mainly or entirely to the immaturity of the latter. A constant distinction between the two forms would appear to be the much greater number of the spots on the back and flanks of peralta, these spots becoming much broken up on the thighs. The spots are divided by a light network, of which the strands are much broader on the fore than |