48 GREVY'S ZEBRA. 



time since I exhibited, at a meeting of the Liniiean Society, a 

 flat skin of this zebra, which I had received from Captain H. T>. 

 Merewether, then Assistant Political Resident at Berltera, and 

 pointed out that it differed from the type specimen of Equus 

 grevyi in that the stripes were brown (red-brown) upon a pale 

 sandy or rufescent ground, instead of black on a white ground ; 

 and I suggested that this might be the desert form, the type 

 specimen representing the mountain form. I have since seen 

 several skins of this zebra, and they all of them agree in coloura- 

 tion with my own, as, indeed, does the one in the British 

 Museum, which was exhibited by Dr. Sclater at a meeting of 

 the Zoological Society, and figured in the Proceedings. And I 

 am told by Captain Merewether that, though he had seen 

 dozens of them at Berbera, brought by caravans from the 

 Dolbahanta country, he has never seen one with black strij^es. 

 I may add that there is every reason to believe that the skin 

 obtained by Dr. Sclater, though said to have been received 

 from ' northern Somali-land,' was brought to Berbera by one of 

 the Dolbahanta caravans. I may further add that the descrip- 

 tion of the ground on which Colonel Paget is said to have found 

 these animals — flat ground, in open scrub, about 150ft. above 

 the level of the river — exactly agrees with the description given 

 me, which, in conjunction with the coloration of the animal, 

 caused me to suggest that this w^as a desert form. In conclu- 

 sion, I would observe that the country from which the Somali- 

 land zebras have been procured is some hundreds of miles 

 distant from the mountainous territory of Shoa, from which the 

 type specimen of Equus grevyi was obtained." 



The most recent information v^e have regarding this 

 animal is in a letter from Mr. A. H. Neumann^ Laiju^ 

 East Central Africa, April 16, 1894, who writes : 



"As we emerged from the bush we saw zebra ahead of us. 



I soon saw that they were not the common Burchell's 



by their great wide ears and different markings. ... I 



gave one a shot, and following, found him lying down as if 



alive, but really dead. 



