FAM. 7. GIRAFFIDAE.--Undoubtedly the type of a distinct family, Giraffidae, is the genus _Giraffa_. It is characterised by {302} the long neck, which, nevertheless, consists of only the normal seven vertebrae, and by the "horns" which differ from those of all other Ruminants; they are small bony prominences of the frontal bones, which become fused with the skull, and which are covered with unmodified skin. They are not shed. Between them is a median prominence. This cranial armature is present in the female as well as in the male, and is well developed even in the {303} new-born young. The orbits are completely encircled by bone, and there is no lachrymal fossa, so common in Deer and Antelopes. There are no canines above; but these are present in the lower jaw. The rudimentary digits of other Ruminants have disappeared in this genus. There are fourteen pairs of ribs as in many other Artiodactyla. The liver of the Giraffe[204] is, as in many, but not all, Ruminants, devoid of a gall-bladder; neither has it a caudate or a Spigelian lobe. The caecum is actually largish (2-1/2 feet in length), but is relatively very small, as the small and the large intestines measure 196 and 75 feet in length respectively. The Giraffe has a well-marked "ileo-caecal" gland, found in many Ruminants; its appearance in _Giraffa_ is especially compared by Garrod with its appearance in _Alces_. Considered by itself, _Giraffa_ forms a very isolated type of Ruminant. But after we have dealt with certain facts concerning extinct forms clearly allied to _Giraffa_, the isolation of the family will be found to be less marked.