200 Transactions. — Zoology. 



varieties, but they still remain sheep, and the numerous kinds 

 are all mutually fertile, though in many instances differing 

 greatly in size or appearance one from the other, and the fact 

 of their mutual fertility proves them to be varieties of the one 

 species and not the evolution of new species. 



Considering the great advance made in all branches of 

 science during the last fifty years, it is not safe to assert that 

 the limit of any particular branch of study has been already 

 attained ; rather let us keep watch for any opening which 

 may give us a clue to the object desired. The subject of 

 hybridism is of great interest to the breeders of domestic 

 animals; and, if the reason for the unfertihty of such animals 

 should be at a future time properly understood and removed, 

 there is every probability that useful domestic animals other 

 than those we now possess might be added to our possessions. 

 At present the ordinary mule, obtained by crossing the mare 

 with the ass, is the only useful hybrid in the service of man ; 

 but Professor Ewart, of Edinburgh, is at present engaged in 

 experiments hybridizing the horse and the zebra, and some 

 very useful animals have resulted, such as might, if in suffi- 

 cient numbers, be of great service in South Africa, where the 

 horse is specially subject to certain diseases. 



The study of hybridism is as yet only in its infancy, and 

 should embrace the breeding-together of more than two allied 

 species. For instance, Darwin mentions that a hybrid ass 

 and zebra produced offspring by the horse ; and in the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens at Kegent's Park the bull, the gyall, and the 

 American bison have been joined in the one animal. But to 

 carry out such experiments on a sufficient scale to insure 

 success should be a national undertaking ; the lifetime of one 

 or two enthusiasts is far too short, and persons having such 

 tendencies seldom are supplied with sufficient capital. 



It is noticeable how men of science are at times led astray 

 by the writings of others, especially of those who lived in 

 olden times and in foreign countries. Take the following 

 extract from " Darwinism," by Alfred R. Wallace (page 1G3) : 

 " Geoff. St. Hilaire was the first to mention, I believe, that 

 in different parts of South America the ram is more usually 

 crossed with the she goat than the sheep with the he goat. 

 The well-known ' pellones' of Chili are produced by the second 

 and third generations of such hybrids" (Gay, Hist, de Chile, 

 vol. i., page 466 — Agriculture, 1862). Hybrids bred from 

 goat and sheep are called in French "chabin," and "cabruno" 

 in Spanish. In Chili such hybrids are called " car news 

 Lanudos "* ; their breeding inter se appears to be not always 



* " Carneros lanudos" is Spanish for "wool-bearing sheep" — i.e., 

 the alpaca — as a distinction from the llama, which has no fleece. Com- 

 pare with Latm camis, flesh ; lana, wool = woolly mutton. 



