280 PROP. B. RAY LAIS'KESTER ON OKAPIA JOHXSTONI. [June 18, 



The skin and two skulls of the Okapi, sent by Sir Harry 

 Johnston, arrived at the Museum on June 17th. The larger of 

 the two skulls is stated by Sir Harry Johnston to belong to the 

 skin. It is not adult, and probably not more than two-thirds 

 grown. There are traces of external male genital organs in the 

 skin, which is probably, though by no means certainly, that of a 

 male. The paired ungual phalanges are preserved in both fore and 

 hind feet, but not the horny hoofs. My attention was immediately 

 given to the skulls, the larger of which is exhibited to the Society 

 this evening. It at once showed itself to be that of a Giraffine 

 animal, and not that of a Bovine. The characters thus indicating 

 Giraffine affinity are the almost complete absence of the angle 

 between the basicranial and basifacial axes ; the great relative length 

 of the postorbifcal or true cranial portion of the sku.ll ; the large 

 lacrymal vacuity bounded anteriorly by the maxillary bones ; the 

 swollen frontal margin of the orbit; the widely expanded and 

 laterally depressed form of the hinder part of the nasal bones ; 

 the brachydont molars with rugose enamel ; and the excessive 

 length of the diastema between the prsemolar teeth and the 

 anterior group of canine and incisor teeth in the lower jaw. 



The " Okapi " differs from the genus Giraffa not only in the 

 relative shortness of the neck, the greater equality in the length 

 of the limbs, and the colour- marking of the hair as shown by the 

 skin, but in the absence, in both male and female, of the bony 

 outgrowths of the frontal region which form the " horns " of 

 Giraffa. These are represented in the Okapi by a posteriorly 

 placed dome-like upgrowth of each frontal and a knob-like 

 thickening in the skin. 



The Okapi cannot, in my opinion, be associated generically with 

 any of the described extinct genera of hornless forms allied to 

 Giraffa, such as Ilelladotlierium and Lahyiherium, though it has 

 similar relations to Giraffa and is undoubtedly allied to those 

 extinct forms. It dififers essentially from Helladotherium in the 

 presence of a large lacrymal vacuity. This is present in Lydekker's 

 Hydaspitherium; which, however, had horns. It differs also from 

 Helladotherium in the form of the orbifc, which is oblong and 

 depressed in that genus, whereas it is equal in height and breadth 

 in the Okapi. It differs further from Helladotherium in the 

 absence of the frontal bosses in the case of that genus. I have 

 been able to compare the Okapi's skull with that of a Hellado- 

 therium from India, preserved in the Natural History Museum, 

 and with the drawings of Gaudry, the founder of the genus. 



I propose to establish the genus Olcapia for Sir Harry John- 

 ston's new animal, and provisionally characterize it as foUows : — 



Ok APIA, nov. gen. 

 A genus of Giraffine animals allied to the short-necked, horn- 

 less, extinct forms known as Helladotherium, &c. Distinguished 

 from Giraffa by its shorb neck, absence of horns, and the uniform 

 reddish-brown coloration of the hair of the body, neck, and head, 



