VISCERA OF AN OKAPI. 



207 



In the Okapi each of these special papillae of the oesophageal 

 gutter consists, like those on the free margin of the leaves of the 

 psalterium, of a fleshy base and a horny apex. The separation 

 of the base from the apex is quite abrupt and clear, giving to the 

 papilla the appearance of a long horny rod set upon the summit 

 of a rounded fleshy boss. 



The digestive stomach (abomasum) calls for no particular com- 

 ment. Its walls become gradually more and more muscular 

 towards the pylorus, beyond which the commencement of the 

 duodenum is marked, as in other Ruminants, by a sudden 

 dilatation. The lining membrane, towards the cardiac end, is 

 longitudinally folded. 



Text- figure 23. 



3 



X 



1 



Diagram, to scale, of laminae of psalterium. 



I, 2, 3, 4, laminae of primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary series. 

 j9., lamina of quaternary series represented by row of papillae. 



In the small portion of oesophagus preserved there was found 

 a mass of partly masticated food. This was composed of small 

 fragments of the leaves of trees. Though the fragments were too 

 small to offer much likelihood of detailed identification, Mr. L. A. 

 Boodle, of the Jodrell Laboratory, Kew Gardens, most kindly 

 undertook to examine them. He reports that they " consist, 

 chiefly at any rate, of fragments of Dicotyledonous plants, grasses 

 being apparently absent. A few specimens show considerable 

 resemblance to leaflets of certain Leguminosa?, but these and the 

 fragments of other plants present have not been identified. No 

 definite opinion has been arrived at as to the stature of the plants 

 concerned." 



This report, in the apparent absence of grass, agrees with the 

 field observations made by Dr. Christy. He says that the animal 

 " feeds chiefly on the small leaves and twigs of trees." " It does 

 not" eat grass, but does browse on the coarse herbage on the 

 outskirts of the forest "*. 



* Quoted from ' The Field,' July 10, 1915, by Sir H. H. Johnston, 'Nature,' 

 Aug. 16, 1915, p. 714; see also to the same effect, Wilmet, C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 

 1913, vol. 156, p. 2007. 



