1865.] MR. E. L. LAYARD ON A NEW ZEBRA. 417 
May 9, 1865. 
Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 
The following extracts were read from a letter addressed to Dr. J. 
E. Gray by Mr. E. L. Layard, of Cape Town, Corr. Memb. :— 
‘IT send you herewith figures and descriptions of a new species of 
Zebra. You have had a skin sent you* which you rejected as a 
‘stray specimen of #. montanus, which had got down on the plains 
and had been shot by accident’+. Iam sure you will, on perusal 
of these notes, alter your opinion; and I shall be obliged to you to 
read them at the Zoological Society. I wish to name the animal 
Equus chapmanni, after its discoverer, my friend James Chapman, 
who has done so much for African discovery, and who has hitherto 
reaped no reward. I send you photographs of a horse and a mare 
of this Zebra in different positions to show the markings, which differ 
entirely from those of LZ. montanus (vel LZ. zebra) in the union of all 
the black stripes with a medial one on the belly ; also on the back, 
in wanting the ‘ gridiron’ pattern, as Baines calls it, on the rump. 
I also send coloured sketches by Baines to show the colour. This 
new animal also differs from the other Zebras in having the callo- 
sities on the legs far larger and of a more rounded shape, in having 
shorter and more equine ears, measuring only 6} inches instead of 
113, and in having a shorter and more equine head and tail. The 
hoofs also are flatter than in EZ. montanus, and not adapted for 
mountain-work. The mane grows several inches down on the fore- 
head, and stands up between the ears, so that when seen in full face 
it stands far higher than them. Chapman and Baines give the di- 
mensions of several individuals; and all who have seen them here, 
who are competent to judge from knowing the other species well, at 
once detect the differences. I am quite convinced of them myself; 
and, if you still doubt, please read this letter and the notes, and ex- 
hibit the drawings, to the Zoological Society in my name. They roam 
in large herds, and are first met with about 200 miles from the 
coast inwards on leaving Walwich Bay, where Equus montanus (or 
rather a variety of that animal) prevails. I add some extracts from 
the journals of Mr. Chapman and Mr. Baines relating to this Zebra.” 
“ Extract from Mr. J. Chapman’s Journal, dated May 21, 1862. 
“The Quaggas here, I think, from about Sechellies’, though by 
no means new to me, are different to any we see described in books 
of natural history. The brush of the tail of one I shot to-day, and 
which is rather a young specimen, is a dark grey, while the base is 
* The skin sent me by Mr. Baines arrived in bad condition, with scarcely any 
hair on it. It was that of a very young animal, and I could not see any differ- 
ence, as far as I could judge in its very bad state, from that of a young Common 
Zebra.—J. E. G. 
+ I have no recollection of having made such a statement as the latter part of 
this quotation.—J. E. G. 
