Sp ectes and Subspecies of Zebras. 35 
zebra from Zululand has been exhibited in the British 
Museum, and labelled, though quite erroneously, “ Burchell’s 
zebra, typical variety.” As a matter of fact, a glance at the 
original figure will show that the specimen in question is 
very different from the type as figured and described by 
Gray ; or, perhaps—and this seems the more likely explana- 
tion—the wide application that is given to the name is attri- 
butable to the existence of intermediate forms, which renders 
an accurate recognition of the different kinds of Burchell’s 
zebra a task of no little difficulty. That a great number 
of these “ kinds ” exist is beyond dispute. Moreover, just as 
the right and left sides of a zebra are seldom, if, indeed, ever, 
marked in the same way, so, too, are no two members of a 
herd exactly alike. And yet at the same time an examina- 
tion of skins from different parts of the vast area, with its 
varied climate and geographical features, over which the so- 
called Burchell’s zebra roams, forces home the conviction on 
the mind of the observer that the extreme variations in colora- 
tion that occur are not, so to speak, fortuitous sports, but that 
they are distinctly correlated with geographical distribution. 
For example, the available evidence shows that the weakly 
striped type of zebra from Zululand, as exemplified by the 
specimen in the British Museum, does not occur in Mashuna- 
land *, where a strongly striped type prevails ; nor does the 
Mashunaland zebra seem to be met with in Zululand. The 
types, m fact, are perfectly distinct when considered apart 
from other forms. It is true, however, that the animal 
which always passes in this country as Chapman’s zebra 
presents characters nearly, if not quite, intermediate in their 
nature between those distinctive of the local races mentioned 
above, and that Wahlberg’s zebra from Zululand similarly 
constitutes a kind of link between Chapman’s and the typical 
Burchell’s. In other words, these forms are not recognizable 
as distinct species, as Dr. Paul Matschie holds, but must 
rather take the rank of subspecies, the use of this word im- 
plying on the part of the describer a belief, firstly, that the 
forms named are geographical races or incipient species, and, 
secondly, that intermediate types exist. 
The actual naming of such subspecies is, of course, open to 
the objection that it is not possible to assign a definite name 
to an absolutely annectant form. But against the opposite 
course—the course that is usually adopted because it entails 
no serious trouble—namely, that of neglecting subspecific 
* Mr. J. flolliott Darling informs me that the zebra characteristic of 
Mashunaland is the form here named Se/ows:?, and that he has never met 
with Wahlberg: in the country. 
3* 
