The Specif s and Snhapecies of Zebras, 33 



scattered places bcliiiid. Te<i;iil!B large, pure white ; the 

 win<r.s wliiti.sh hyaline, well tinj;ecl with tawny fuscous on 

 bafial halt' or third. 



This may prove to be conspecitic with purpurascens, but it 

 will at least form a f^ood variety of that species. 



Neither of the above species belongs to any of Wulp's 

 Mexican Ili/alomyias. 



[To be continued.] 



V. — The Species and Subspecies of Zebras. By R. I. 

 POCOCK, of the British Museum of Natural History. 



Part I. — Introductory Remarks. 



For some years past, during periodical visits to the museum 

 at Bristol, my attention has been attracted by a stuffed speci- 

 men of a zebra-like animal, which, in addition to being labelled 

 " Quagga," possessed special interest, inasmuch as it ditYered 

 strikingly in the character of its markings from all the zel)ra3 

 in the collection of the British ^Museum and from all that I 

 had .=een in menageries and elsewhere. The true Quagga, as 

 is now admitted on all hands, is extinct, and only a few speci- 

 mens have been preserved in the various museums of Europe. 

 Consequently the example in question, if correctly named, 

 would be of great zoological interest and of very considerable 

 value as a museum possession. I therefore undertook, with 

 the consent of Mr. Edward Wilson, F.G.S., the curator, who 

 kindly gave me every facility in the way of examining and 

 sketching the specimen, to identify it, if possible, and 

 ascertain as nearly as might be its affinities with regard to 

 the known forms of zebras. As is explained later on, the 

 specimen, though of considerable interest, proved to have no 

 proper claim to the title of quagga. But the task of identi- 

 lication entailed the looking up of a deal of the literature 

 published on the subject by both naturalists and sportsmen 

 and an examination of all the skins and living specimens to 

 which access could be obtained ; and since during the inves- 

 tigation a few structural points came to light which have 

 apparently escaped notice until now, and since, with the 

 exception of Dr. Paul Matschie's paper alluded to below, no 

 paper dealing comprehensively with all the species has been 

 published of late years, 1 have ventured to hope that the notes 

 and observations contained in the following pages, though 



Ann. & Mag. X. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. xx. 3 



