THE GREW ZEBRA 167 



The whole subject of equine hybrids is ex- 

 tremely interesting, and crosses between many 

 of the species have been obtained. The 

 mountain zebra has bred with the common ass ; 

 the Burchell zebra has been crossed with the 

 common ass, with the Asiatic wild ass, and with 

 the horse : the true quagga has bred with the 

 Asiatic wild ass and the horse. The series of 

 hybrids thus obtained is a long one, the 

 records extending from about 1786 to the 

 present day. Most, if not all of the foals 

 born exhibited stripes which resembled those 

 of their zebra parent. Such a result was 

 only to be expected : a most remarkable fact, 

 however, deserves brief mention here. Many, if 

 not all of the young animals exhibited additional 

 stripes, which did not resemble those of their 

 parent, but, on the contrary, were long and narrow, 

 like those of Grevys zebra! This singular pheno- 

 menon has been explained as follows : 



Naturalists (acting on the supposition that the 

 various species of every genus have been evolved 

 from a common ancestor) have endeavoured to 

 reconstruct this ancestor by intercrossing the 

 various species so that the resulting hybrid may 

 present more or less remotely the original appear- 

 ance of the progenitor of the race. The peculiar 

 narrow striping which occurs frequently in equine 

 hybrids (with or without the presence of other 



