42 THE HORSE FAMILY. 



II , . . It is propable that all the existing members of the Horse 

 family will interbreed, although their offspring is almost 

 invariably infertile. The most common hybrid is the Mule, the 

 product of the male Ass with the female Horse; the opposite hybrid 

 being the Hinny, a much rarer cross. No specimen of either of 

 these hybrids is shown ; the only hybrid Equine exhibited being a 

 cross between a male Zebra {Equus zebra) and a female Ghor-khar, 

 or Onager [E. onager). In this hybrid (N. H. 125), which was 

 foaled in the Zoological Society^s Menagerie in the Regent's Park 

 the general characters are those of the Ass, as is exemplified by the 

 large ears, the strongly marked shoulder-stripe, and the nearly 

 uniform body-colour. In the distinctly striped legs, as well as in 

 the darker flecking of the body (representing disappearing stripes) 

 Zebra-characters are, however, displayed ; the striping of the 

 Zebras and Quaggas, which appears to have been inherited from 

 the ancestors of the family, being a '^ prepotent '' feature always 

 strongly pronounced in hybrids of this nature. 



Two other hybrids are represented by pictures. The first is 

 Prof. Ewarts^ " Romulus," the offspring of a male Bonte-Quagga 

 or BurchelPs Zebra [Equus burchelli) and a West Highland Pony 

 mare, of which two photographs are shown. The second, repre- 

 sented by a painting executed and presented by Miss Nellie Hadden 

 in 1904, is a hybrid brought to this country by Lord Kitchener 

 and presented to H.M. the King, by whom it was desposited in 

 the Menagerie of the Zoological Society. Its sire was a Pony, and 

 its dam a Bonte-Quagga (BurchelPs Zebra). It is noteworthy 

 that although both these hybrids are very fully striped, the 

 general body-colour (bay) of the Horse is retained. 



