332 



THE ISABELLA QUAGGA. 



Hippotifjris isubeilinus. 

 PLATE XXV. 



WE separated this animal from the foregoing, he- 

 cause with characters most nearly allied to the last, 

 such as the equine head, ears, body, croup, tail, 

 and even shoulders, it still differs in size from all, 

 being scarcely ten hands high, and still more in 

 the colours and forms of the cross bands upon its 

 livery. 



The specimen is in the British Museum, and ot;r 

 drawing of it was taken when it had been recently 

 set up ; it struck us then as representing the zebre* 

 or Ane isabelle of Le Vaillant, and found afterwards 

 that Mr. Temminck, on seeing it, made the same 

 observation.* At that time there was, however, an 

 opinion that it was the skin of a colt whose dark 

 streaks were not as yet apparent; but as we now 



* Monsieur Le Vaillant was a travelling naturalist in the 

 employ of Mr. Temminck 's father, who held a high official 

 situation in the Dutch East Incka Company's government at 

 home. From the context of what Le Vaillant says about thfci 

 animal, it is clear that he saw, but did not possess it. Buffon's 

 figure of the young Quacha is copied from Allemand, of which 

 we have seen an original drawing with black streaks, and there- 

 fore is not like the Isabella. For these reasons we cannot assent 

 to the opinion of Mr. Gray, nor agree with the writer of the 

 article Horse in the Penny Cyclopaedia, vol. xii. p. 313. 



