762 



ON AN EMBRYO OF THE OKAPI. 



[Nov. 13, 



1. On the Embryo of the Okapi. 

 By Prof. B. Burckhardt, C.M.Z.S. 



[Received July 9, 1906.] 



(Text-figure 125.) 



Dr. I. David * on his last expedition shot two Okapis in the 

 forests of Semliki. In one, which was a female, he examined 

 the titerus, and was fortunate enough to find an embryo, which 

 he removed and preserved in spirit. He brought this rare spe- 

 cimen to me, his former teacher in embryology, with the wish that 

 I should give a description of it. Unfortunately, the object 

 is in an early stage and not in good enough preservation for 

 sections to be made. I can therefore only give the accompanying- 

 sketch showing the outlines and some details of its external 

 features. 



Text-fis-. 125. 



Embryo of Okapi, probably about one montli old. X 3. 



The embryo corresponds to that of the Pig, fig. 26 of Keibel's 

 * Normentafeln zur Entwicklungsgeschichte ' (i.), or of a Deer 

 (Sakurai, ibidem, vi. fig. 31), or of a Sheep of about one month 

 (li. Bonnet, Grundr. Entwicklungsgesch. Haussaugetiere, fig. 68). 

 So it is likely that it is not less than one month old, but as we do 

 not know if it may persist at the same stage for a certain time like 

 that of the Sheep, we cannot determine whether it is some weeks 

 older. It is a single one, as in the Giraflfe, which also produces 

 only one at a bh-th. The sketch gives the Okapi embryo from 

 the right side enlarged 3 times, together with a part of the egg- 

 membranes. The head, in comparison with that of a human 

 embryo of the same stage, is rather small. In it may be distin- 

 guished the eye with the pigmented choroid, the lens and the 

 primitive eyelid-walls. Behind the head the ear is to be seen, 



* See Sclater, P. Z. S. 1904, vol. ii. p. 180. 



