194 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



A very different animal to the last is the 

 quagga (Equus quagga, pi. xvii. fig. i ), which formerly 

 swarmed on the plains of Cape Colony, from which, 

 it has long since been swept away by the Boers, 

 by whom it was shot at first as food for their 

 Hottentot servants, and later on for the sake 

 of its hide. Together with the remaining mem- 

 bers of the striped group, the quagga has the 

 chestnuts on the fore-legs larger than in Gravy's 

 zebra, and the stripes broader. In this sub-group, 

 whenever the hind -quarters are striped, the 

 stripes are obliquely longitudinal, with the upper- 

 most ones arising from the posterior region of 

 the body, where their upper extremities are bent 

 backwards towards the root of the tail in such a 

 manner that there is no concentric arrangement 

 round the latter. The muzzle is dark, and usually 

 black, and the stripes on the nose are continuous 

 with the dark patches round the nostrils. The ears 

 are narrow, and always tipped with white. 



In the quagga itself, which was confined to the 

 plains south of the Orange River, the ears are com- 

 paratively small, the front hoofs are rather large, 

 and a complete system of striping is retained only 

 on the head, neck, and front half of the body, 

 although some examples appear to have had spots 

 farther back, indicating the remnants of stripes. 

 Such stripes as remain on the body do not extend 

 across the under surface to meet their fellows of the 



