OcTOBEB, 1902.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



221 



was actuallv living in the London Zoological Society's 

 menagerie ; while another had died there only the vear 

 before. Of the latter example, a male, presented to the 

 Society in 18.58 l>y the late Sir George Grey, the carcase 

 was fortunately acquired by the British Museum, where 

 both its skin and skeleton are now jireserveil. The former 

 specimen — a female jmrchased in 18.51 — survived till the 

 summer of 187:2. when its carcase was sold (apparently 

 without the least idea of its priceless value) to a London 

 taxidermist, from whom the mounted skin was acquired 

 n:auy years after by Mr. Walter Rothschild, for his museum 

 at Tring. This specimen was apparently the last survivor 

 of its kind, although, as already said, there was not even a 

 suspii'ion that it belonged to a rare species. Most 

 fortunately for natural history two or more photographs of 

 this animal were taken in the summer of 1870 by Messrs. 

 York and Sou, and it is from these photographs (one of 

 which is herewith reproduced) that most of the later 

 figures of the animal appear to have been taken. They 

 are probaijly the only photographs of a living specimen 

 in existence. 



According to a note published by the Secretary, in the 

 Proceed iiKjs for 1891, the only other example of thequagga 

 in the London Zoological Si>ciety's menagerie was one 

 purchased in 1831. No record of its death appears to 

 have been preserved, but it may have been the same 

 specimen of which the skin was exhibited in the Society's 

 old museum in 1838, or thereabouts. These, however, 

 were by no means the only specimens brought alive to 

 England, for as early as 181.5 one was in the possession of 

 Lord Morton, while somewhat later on in the last 

 century Mr. Sheriff Parkins was in the habit of driving 

 two quaggas in a phaeton about Loudon, and in narrating 

 this circumstance the late Colonel Hamilton Smith men- 

 tions that he himself had been drawn in a gig by one of 

 these animals, which showed "as much temper and delicacy 

 of mouth as any domestic horse." Another quagga was in 

 the possession of a former Prince of Wales, and there are 

 records of others in England. The skulls of the two 

 driven by Mr. Parkins, as well as a portrait of one of 

 them, are preserved in the museum of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons. 



« 'In addition to the specimens in the British, Edinburgh, 

 and Tring museums, several skins are preserved on the 

 Continent. Willi one exception, all appear to be of the 

 same general type as the London example photographed 

 by Messrs. York in 1870. The exception is one iu the 

 Imperial Itiuseum at Vienna, of which a description and 

 photograph have recently lx>en published by the Director, 

 Dr. L. von Lorenz, in the Proceediiiys of the Zoological 

 Society of London. Unfortunately there is no record .is 

 to the locality where the Vienna si>ecimen (which is a 

 female) was obtained, all that is known being that it was 

 acquired by purchase iu 18;5t). 



Compared with the ordinary type of quagga, as exem- 

 plified by York's photograph, the Vienna animal is of 

 somewhat larger dimensions, with a creamy buff (instead 

 of greyish or chocolate-brown) ground-colour im the upper 

 parts, with the exception of the head, which is clay-brown. 

 A more striking difference is to be found in the broader 

 dark strii)es (of which there seem to be more in a given 

 space), and a corresponding decrease in the width of the 

 intervening light intervals. The stripes also seem to 

 extend farther back on the body. 



But there is also a difference l)etween quaggas of the 

 type of the one photographed by York and those figured 

 by the early writers, as exemplified by the plate in Colonel 

 Hamilton .Smith's volume on horses in the NafnraliKr^ 

 Library. In the specimen there represented, which not 

 im[)robalily came from. Cape Colony, and may be regarded 



as the typical form of the six-cies, the head, neck, and fore- 

 quarters are marked by narrow black stripes on a chestnut 

 ground. The markings are, indeed, as Dr. von Lorenz 

 remarks, just the reverse of those of the Vienna specimen ; 

 the British Museum example, and the one figured by York 

 b<>ing in some degree intermediate between these two 

 extreme types 



With some hesitation. Dr. von Lorenz suggests that 

 there may have been local races of the quagga, as there 

 are of Burchell's zebra Regarding Hamilton Smith's 

 plate as representing the typical Cape quagga, the two 

 other forms j>robably came from districts farther to the 

 north, and the suggestion may be hazarded that the 

 Vienna specimen, as the more aberrant, was obtained from 

 the Orange River Colony or Griqualand West, forming 

 the northern limits of the range of the species. For the 

 race typified by the British Museum specimen the name 

 Eqiins quagga ijreyi would be an appropriate designation, 

 while for the one represented by the Vieona example the 

 title E. qiiinjyii Inrenzi may be suggested. 



But it was not my intention when commencing this 

 article to enter into a discussion of local races, but rather 

 to point out what an interesting animal the quagga really 

 was. and how great a loss its extermination has been to 

 zoology. 



Even in the days of its abundance the quagga (which, 

 by the way, takes its name from its cry) had a comparatively 

 limited distribution, ranging from the Cape Colony up the 

 eastern side of Africa as far as the Vaal River, beyond 

 which it appears to have been unknown. In this respect 

 it, closely resembled the white-tailed gnu, which, however, 

 is known to have crossed that river in one district. 

 Curiously enough the two species lived in close comrade- 

 ship, and iu the old days their vast herds formed a striking 

 feature in the landscape of the open plains of the Orange 

 River Colony. Both have now disappeared from the face 

 of the country, for the white-tailed gnu, if, indeed, any are 

 now left, only exists in a semi-domesticated state on a few 

 farms. 



Owing to its rank flavour, and especially its yellow fat, 

 the flesh of the quagga was almost uneatable by Europeans, 

 although it was keenly relished by the Hottentots, who, in 

 the early days of the Cape Colony, were largely fed upon 

 it by their Dutch masters. Whether this was the cause 

 of its comi)aratively early disappearance from that part of 

 the country, it is now impossible to say, but certain it is 

 that when Sir Cornwallis Harris made his trip to the 

 interior, in 183tj, quaggas were no longer to be met with 

 iu any numbers in Cape Colony, although Colonel Hamilton 

 Smith, writing a few years later, states that they were 

 still to be found within its limits. North of the Vaal 

 River they occurred, however, in their original multitudes, 

 and it was not till about the middle of the last century 

 that the Boers took to hide-hunting, and thus in a few 

 years accomplished the extermination of the species. 



Allusion has already been made to the facility with 

 wh'ch the quagga could be broken to harness, and it seems 

 probable that the species could have Ijeen more easily 

 domesticated than any of its South African relatives. 

 Another trait in its disposition is worth brief mention. 

 It was said to be the boldest and fiercest of the whole 

 equine tribe, attacking and driving off both the wild dog 

 and the spotted hyaena. On this account the Boers are 

 stated to have frequently kept a few tame fiuaggas on their 

 farms, which were turned out .at night to graze with the 

 horses iu order to protect them from the attacks of beasts 

 of ]irey. 



'fhroughout the vdiole of the plain country to the south 

 of the Vaal River the quagga was the sole wild representa- 

 tive of the horse family, the true zebra being confined to 



