ZEBRAS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 159 



cation. The pity of it is that they are so fast 

 disappearing; so that another few score years will 

 probably see the end of them. When one reflects 

 how rapidly this ancient and interesting group is 

 vanishing; when one remembers that the quagga 

 (Uquus quagga), which so lately as 18.S7 was described 

 by Cornwallis Harris as " inhabiting the open plains 

 south of the Vaal river in immense herds," has now 

 for years become extinct — clean wiped from the face 

 of the earth — one regrets almost that arms of 

 precision were ever invented. 



Of the striped eqitidce, or zebras, peculiar to 

 Africa, there are four well-ascertained species : viz. 

 1. The true or mountain zebra {Equus zebra) \ 2. 

 Grevy's zebra (Uquus grevyi), a recently-discovered 

 species of upland zebra from North-East Africa; 

 3. Burchell's zebra {Uqtcus htcrchelli) ; and 4. The 

 quagga {Equus quagga), a form now unhappily 

 extinct. These species stand distinct and separate 

 in many characteristics, and, although manifestly 

 allied, it is a curious fact in natural history that in 

 the wild state they have never been known to inter- 

 breed. The zebra, although known to the arena of 

 Imperial Rome under the designation Hippotigris 

 (tiger-horse), is, curiously enough, not to be found 

 portrayed on Egyptian monuments. Considering 

 how fond the Egyptians were of reproducing many 

 forms of beasts, birds, and reptiles upon their monu- 



