ITS NEAREST EXISTING RELATIONS 



89 



intensely black stripes, arranged in a pattern quite 

 different from those of the other species. In view of the 

 great variability of the markings of these animals, as 

 long as but one individual of this form was known some 

 doubts were expressed as to whether it might not be an 

 exceptionally-coloured individual of one of the other 

 species ; but, subsequently, other specimens, presenting 

 almost exactly the same characters, have been received 

 from Somali- land, 1 and it seems probable that all the 

 zebras which we know to exist in the northern districts of 

 East Africa belong to this species. The very recent dis- 

 covery of such a remarkable form of animal, and the 

 imperfect knowledge we possess of its geographical 

 distribution, is a striking illustration of how much still 

 remains to be done before we can consider our informa- 

 tion is complete regarding even some of the larger and 

 most conspicuous forms of animal life. 



Though zebras have not been found depicted on 

 the Egyptian monuments, they were known to the 

 Eomans, and occasionally exhibited in the amphi- 

 theatres, under the name of 'hippotigris.' Dion Cassius 

 reports that Caracalla exhibited in the circus an ele- 

 phant, a rhinoceros, a lion, and a hippotigris ; and 

 as many as twenty are stated to have been collected 

 for the triumph of Gordian the Third, and exhibited 



1 See Sclater, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 

 1890, p. 413. 



