A SPECIMEN OF TYPKl^L BITRCHELL\S ZEBRA IN THE 

 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



By Makcus Ward Lyon, Jr., 



Assistant Cimttor, Division of 3fa)iiinals, U. S. National Museum. 



Tlie United States National Museum is fortunate in possessing a 

 g'ood example of what is apparently a typical Burcheirs zebra, Eqxms 

 hur'chellil {Gv-Aj). According to a recent authority" this species is 

 now extinct or nearly so, and it is desirable to publish photographic 

 reproductions and descriptions of all specimens as a matter of perma- 

 nent record. The specimen here described and illustrated* agrees 

 very closely with the ligures published by Mr. Pocock'' and with the 

 figure published by Mr. Ewart.'' It is in many respects, however, 

 different from Gray's original figure of Asinus hurchellii^^ mainly in 

 the absence of shadow stripes anterior to the shoulder and the more 

 complicated marking in the region of the rump and thigh. The 

 specimen, Cat. No. 15120, U.S.N.M., was received in the flesh from 

 the shows of Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson from Bridgeport, Con- 

 necticut, on July 15, 1885. Unfortunately no other information 

 regarding the specimen is obtainable. It was mounted for exhibi- 

 tion by Dr. W. T. Hornaday shortly after it was received at the 

 Museum, and has since been on exhibition. The skull, Cat. No. 21982, 

 U.S.N.M., and leg bones are, unfortunately, mounted in with the 

 skin, and it does not seem advisable to remove the skull at present for 

 purposes of study. 



The scapula^ were the onl}' other portions of the skeleton saved. In 

 the catalogue the sex is marked " <? ," but an examination of the speci- 

 men shows it to be a female, two teats being distinctly seen in the 

 inguinal region. The specimen is in good condition aside from a 



a Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, p. 196. 



& A figure of the head and neck of this specimen was pubhshed in the Report of 

 the U. S. National Museum, 1892, pi. lxxxi. 

 '■Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, p. 197. 

 ''The Penycuik Experiment?, 1899, p. 86. 

 ''Zool. Journal, I, 1824-1825, pi. ix. 



Proceedinqs U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXII— No. 1505, 

 Proc. N. M. vol. xxxii— 07 1 



