HYBRIDIZATION IN ANIMAL BREEDING 



517 



nevertheless a brief mention of a few considerations which tend to cloud 

 the issue cannot be held out of place. The mule at its best, when com- 

 pared with the beauty of form of a well-bred horse, suffers greatly. It 

 partakes too much of the characters of the ass, ancient symbol of all 

 that is silly and ugly, to excite greatly the admiration of those who have 

 sentimental regard for the horse, the close companion of man in battle, 

 foray, and chase. A second consideration is the fact, also true in cross- 

 breeding, that the breeding of mules withdraws permanently from the 

 racial stream much of the very best of horse blood. While inferior mares 



Fio. 198. A hinny, obtained by mating a jennet to a stallion. {After Mumford.) 



may produce mule colts that are better for draft purposes than any horse 

 colts they might produce, nevertheless for the production of the best class 

 of mules, it is absolutely necessary to select with care the very best type 

 of brood mares. For these reasons, and others of less importance, 

 strong partisans of the horse are prone to permit their prejudice against 

 the mule and their high regard for the horse to influence strongly their 

 judgment of the point at issue, namely this, whether a given lot of 

 mares when bred to a good jack will produce mules which are better 

 suited for draft purposes than would be the horse colts produced by these 

 mares when bred to an equally good stallion. 



By common consent the mule is considered more vigorous, hardier, 

 and freer from disease than either parent. Part of these qualities may 

 be ascribed to the ass's influence, but certainly these are characters 

 common to a large number of species hybrids. The reciprocal cross, 

 jennet X stallion, the hinny, is commonly reported to be different from 

 the mule. According to Darwin, the male is prepotent in both crosses 



