566 PROF. w. RiDGEWAY ON [May 11, 



But a glance at the illustration of the Basel Quagga will show 

 that it comes still closer to the Buvchell Zebra than the Vienna 

 specimen, and it may be taken as virtually filling the gap which 

 hitherto has existed between the true Burchell Zebra and the 

 Quaggas of Cape Colony. 



It would seem that we must be careful not to make species or 

 subspecies too hastily, for it may turn out that slight local 

 differences in the environment may cause a difference in the 

 coloration of animals which are practically one and the same 

 in type. This, indeed, can be put beyond all doubt by the series 

 of skins in my own possession, which I obtained from British 

 East Africa (supra, pp. 547-563). 



II- — I will next describe another specimen of E. quagga. It 

 has long been known by hearsay to those interested in the 

 subject, but, so far as I am aware, it has not been described or 

 figured by any of our leading authorities on the Equidce. Sad to 

 say, it is the only specimen of the true Quagga preserved in the 

 Museums of South Africa. For, although the Director of the 

 Bloemfontein Museum, in reply to my inquiries, informed me 

 that there was in the Museum a skin of the true Quagga, when 

 the photograph, taken for me by a local photographer, arrived, 

 the skin turned out to be probably that of the true Burchell 

 Zebra. But as the legs had been trimmed off", it is by no means 

 certain that it is even that of a true Burchell. 



However, in the Cape Town Museum, there is a genuine relic 

 of the true Quagga, which, by the kindness of Dr. L. Peringuey, 

 the Director, I am able to describe in his words and to figure from 

 a photograph kindly sent to me by him. Dr. Peringuey writes : — 



" I very much regret to say that the extinct Quagga is 

 represexited in the collection by a foal only. The skin was never 

 properly mounted, and the animal looks somewhat grotesque, 

 but I dare not have this relic taxidermised. The animal was 

 procured from the Beaufort West district of the Cape Colony 

 circa 1860. It is rufous-brown, the stripes whitish, but 

 slightly mingled with rufous, or rather tawny, on the edges. 

 The animal is 110 cm. from nose to the root of the tail, 68 cm. 

 at the shoulders, 70 cm. at the hind quarters ; the length of the 

 head is 30 cm. from the muzzle to the centre of the ears. The 

 remarkable feature of the foal is the great length of the hairs ; 

 those bearding the lower jaw are 3 cm. long. On the facial part 

 there are four distinct stripes and many outer, ill-defined ones. 

 These show distinctly in the photograph." (Text-fig. 171, p. 580.) 



I here figure all the chief specimens of the Quagga which I have 

 been able to find in the museums of Europe and Africa, except 

 that at Turin * and those said to be at Mainz and Frankfurt-on- 



* I obtained, but too late to reproduce, a picture of this specimen, by the kindness 

 of Dr. L. Camerano, who published it (Atti d. R. Accad. d. Scienze, Torino, vol. xliii. 

 pp. 3-6, pi.). 



