380 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [skss. 
observations on hairs obtained from animals in the Gardens of the 
Zoological Society of London. In work of this sort it is desirable, 
before setting down certain characters as those of the species, to 
confirm one’s observations in as many individuals as possible. 
Where only one individual of a species is studied, it is easy to fall 
into the error of regarding certain characteristics as belonging to 
the species which are really only individual peculiarities. It is 
also well to remember that it by no means necessarily follows that 
because hairs possess certain general characters which it is usual to 
find in the members of a particular family, such as that of the 
Equidse, that they must belong to an animal which is a member of 
that family. On the other hand, it is natural to suppose that the 
causes which operate in determining a particular form of hair 
in the members of one family should operate and bring about 
similar results in the members of a quite different family. It is 
acknowledged that those who maintained that an extinct animal 
could be restored by an examination of a single bone went a great 
deal too far. And so, in the absence of other evidence, to attempt 
to assign an animal to its genus on the strength of the characters 
of some of its hairs, would be equally unreasonable. An examina- 
tion of the hairs of the new mammal recently discovered by Sir 
Harry Johnston, Iv.C.B., pointed to the conclusion that the animal 
belonged to the genus Equus. The history of this discovery is now 
well known. Pieces of skin were first obtained, but not a complete 
skin, nor had the animal been seen alive. There was, however, 
other evidence besides that derived from the shape and structure 
of the hairs that the animal was equine. The skin was striped in 
a manner very suggestive of a zebra. On the strength of the 
evidence, Dr Sclater named the animal Equus Johnstoni. The 
resemblance between these hairs and the shoulder hairs in the 
Equidse was shown by Dr Ridewood at a meeting of the Zoological 
Society,* and I myself can testify that whereas they do not 
resemble the hairs of any particular species of zebra especially, 
they do not differ more from the hairs of any such species than the 
species of zebras in their hair characters differ from one another.! 
* P. Z. S., 1901. 
t The Okapi’s hairs, which I examined, are from a bandolier made from 
the skin from one of the legs of the animal ( vide Sclater, P.Z.S., 1901). They 
