282 DE. E. EAT LANKESTER ON OKAPIA. 



The complete skin, whicli arrived in London in July 1901 and is now mounted in 

 the sfi^lcry of the Natural History Museum (as represented in Plate XXX.), shows 

 tliat the striping of the pelt extends over a very limited area, being confined to the 

 haunclies and the fore and hind legs above the carpus and tarsus respectively. The 

 " bandoliers " in question are found, on comparison with the complete skin, to have 

 been cut from the haunches, and their exact position can be traced. A comparison 

 leaves no doubt that these strips of skin belonged to the Okapi, and therefore the 

 specific name " johnsfoni " given by Dr. Sclater will remain as the designation of the 

 Okapi. At the same time, the close study of the bandoliers and the complete Okapi 

 skin render it certain that the striping on the hind legs of the Okapi is, to a small 

 extent, variable in individuals. 



It was at once apparent to Sir Harry Johnston, on receiving the complete skin with 

 the double hoof-bones, that the Okapi is not really a horse-like animal at all, but 

 belonged to the group of Artiodactyle Ungulates. The absence of horns and the great 

 length of the ears account for the comparison of the animal to a donkey or a zebra 

 frequently made by natives when describing it. But the examination of the two skulls 

 and the lower jaw enabled Sir Harry Johnston to recognize before despatching the 

 specimens to England that the Okapi is closely related to the Giraffes. In the letter 

 written in April 1901, which he sent to me announcing the fact that he had packed 

 up and sent off the skin and skulls of the Okapi from Uganda to England, Sir Harry 

 expresses the opinion that the Okapi is a hornless kind of giraffe and possibly to be 

 referred to Gaudry's genus Helladotherium ^. 



As will be seen from the drawing and description of the skulls and lower jaw here 

 given, the identification made by Sir Harry Johnston was practically correct. Though 

 the Okapi differs in important characters of generic value from the Helladotherium of 

 the Miocene of Pikermi and India, it yet stands close to it as a hornless ^ representative 

 of that remarkable and once extensive group, the Giraffidae, of which it and the Giraffe 

 are the only survivors. There were many and varied genera belonging to the Giraffids 

 in the Miocene period, some with larger bony outgrowths of the skull than has the 

 recent Giraffe and some without such outgrowths. 



II. — The Region inhabited by the Okapi. 

 Before proceeding to further description of the characters exhibited by the skin and 

 skulls in our possession, it is well to put on record the nature of the region in which 

 the Okapi is found. The Semliki Eiver flows from the Albert Edward Lake to the 

 Albert Nyanza, and it is in the forest on the western side of the river that the Okapi 

 lives. Sir Harry Johnston estimates the area within which it certainly occurs as being 

 as large as the Principality of Wales, and it may have a larger range. There are 



1 See also the ' Times,' May 7th, 1901. 



- ilaj- 27th, 1902. — Now shown uot to be hornless ; see Appendix, p. 304. 



