THE PENYCUIK EXPERIMENTS. 



137 



Wild animals are frequently thought to be prepotent over tame ones, 

 but of the eleven zebra-hybrids bred at Penycuik only two took mark- 

 edly after their sire, the zebra Matopo.* There are other experiments 

 recounted which tell the other way, and at present this matter remains 

 in a state of considerable uncertainty. 



This article must not close without a word or two more about 

 the zebra-hybrids. It is mentioned above that only two out of the 

 eleven which have already been born took, strongly after their father. 



Romulus. 



Those who have seen the young hybrids playing about in the fields 

 at Penycuik must agree that they are the most charming and compactly 

 built little animals possible. Of Romulus, the eldest of the herd, Pro- 

 fessor Ewart says: "When a few days old [he] was the most attractive 

 little creature I have ever seen. He seemed to combine all the grace 

 and beauty of an antelope and a well-bred Arab foal. . . . What 

 has struck me from the first has been his alertness and the expedition 

 with which he escapes from suspicious or unfamiliar objects. When 



* The illustration shows the difference between the facial marks of the zebra and those of the 

 hybrid. The latter, in this respect, bears much the same relation to the former as a blue-rock 

 pigeon does to a fancy type. 



