530 



SGIENQE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. i 



tabu, animal descent, etc.), although " they 

 exist separately and independently from one 

 another," are also found associated in totemic 

 complexes. If they were " nowhere found 

 united" and were "not correlated to one 

 another," there would be no totemic problem. 



A. A. GOLDENWEISER 

 February 23, 1911 



EVIDENCE OF THE ZEBRA IN THE PLEISTOCENE 

 FAUNA OP FRANCE 



From certain drawings by paleolithic art- 

 ists, reproduced by Edouard Piette in his 

 work on " The Art Eelating to the Eeindeer 

 Age," ' it would appear that a species of zebra 

 had wandered northward, with other members 

 of the African fauna, during the Pleistocene, 

 at least as far as central France. On plate 

 XXX. of Piette's work are reproduced two 

 engraved figures of an animal that seem un- 

 doubtedly intended to represent a zebra. In 

 one of these (Fig. 6) only the head and neck 

 appear, while in the other (Fig. 7) almost the 

 entire animal is drawn. The reference to 

 these figures in the accompanying text is as 

 follows : 



Fig. 6. Engraving representing the head and 

 neck of a horse-like animal with erect mane, deli- 

 cately striped like the zebra. The stripes are 

 formed by rows of points almost contiguous. One 

 notices in the front of the head a series of marks 

 like chevrons and under the neck, two short par- 

 allel stripes. Grotte des Espglungues, A'Arudy. 



Fig. 7. Engraving representing an animal like 

 a horse, delicately striped like a zebra, with erect 

 mane, small head having small ears. The stripes 

 are indicated by series of parallel lines or of 

 points. The tail is incompletely drawn. Grotte 

 de Tayngen. 



The striping of the hind quarters in Fig. 7, 

 suggests the " gridiron " pattern on the rump 

 of the rock or berg zebra (Equus zehra), an 

 existing species, now on the verge of extinc- 

 tion, but formerly abundant in the mountain- 

 ous districts of Cape Colony. Here, however, 

 the likeness ends, for the absence in the en- 

 graving of stripe marks on the limbs, the 

 presence of which, clear down to the hoofs, is 

 a character of the above species, ' would sug- 



' " L'Art Pendant L'Age Du Renne," Paris, 

 1907. 



gest Burchell's zebra {Equus Burchelli) as 

 would also the small size of the ears. 



A careful study of these drawings forces 

 one to the conclusion, it seems to me. that a 

 species of zebra was present in western 

 Europe when paleolithic men were engraving 

 the lineaments of reindeer, bison, horse, mam- 

 moth, cave bear, woolly rhinoceros and 

 other animals of that strange and interesting 

 time. Surely this ancient artist did not 

 stretch his imagination to so accurately de- 

 lineate the stripe pattern of a zebra, without 

 having seen it. All of these paleolithic en- 

 gravings depict an animal most faithfully, 

 even, at times, to minute details. The fa- 

 miliar sight of some beast begat an impulse 

 that found its -Expression in virile representa- 

 tions of form, remarkably accurate consider- 

 ing the rude and primitive implements for 

 engraving, that were in the hands of these 

 artists of the remote past. 



I am not aware of any previous reference 

 to the zebra's former existence in Europe, and 

 I present the above facts simply as evidence 

 coming from the hand of one who without 

 doubt knew and drew some form of zebra that 

 later, like so many other great mammals, van- 

 ished from the northern lands. 



Spencee Trotter 



SWAETHMOEE COLLEGE, Pa., 



February 14, 1911 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Termitenleben auf Ceylon; Neue 8tudien zur 

 Soziologie der Tiere, zugleich ein Kapitel 

 Kolonialer Forstentomologie. Von Karl 

 EsCHERiCH. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 1911. 

 Pp. xvii + 262. 68 text-figures ; 3 pis. 

 This important contribution to our rapidly 

 increasing knowledge of the termites, or 

 " white ants," had its origin in a journey made 

 by Professor Escherich during 1910 to Ceylon, 

 and contains a very interesting account of the 

 behavior of several of the species of that is- 

 land. Four fungus-growing species (Termes 

 obscuriceps, redemanni and ceylonicus and 

 Microtermes globicola) are considered at 

 length in the opening chapter of the work, 

 their architecture and fungus-gardens being 



