GIRAFFES AND OKAPI. 



37 



Above the first landing the staircase divides into two flights, 



each leading to one of the corridors which flank the west and 



east sides of the hall, and by which access is gained to the 



galleries of the first floor of the building. At the southern end 



of these corridors two staircases, raised on arches spanning the 



hall, join to form a central flight leading to the second or upper 



most floor. On the landing at the top of this flight is placed 



a marble statue by Chantrey of SlE Joseph Banks (b. 1743, statue of 



Banks. 



Fig. 13. — A Female Okapi (Ohapia iohnstoni, or 0. erieJcsoni). 



d. 1820), who for forty-one years presided over the Eoyal 

 Society, and was an active Trustee of the Museum. His 

 botanical collections are preserved in the adjoining gallery, but 

 his unrivalled library of works on natural history, also bequeathed 

 to the Museum, remains at Bloomsbury, where the statue, 

 erected by public subscription in 1826, stood until it was 

 removed to its present situation by direction of the Trustees in 

 the year 1886. 



