GENERAL INTRODUCTION. XI 



species with certain less familiar members of the gi'eat 

 Burchell group found in Nyassaland. There is hence no 

 link now wanting in the chain (if the striping alone is 

 considered) that has at one end the common mountain 

 zebra^ with a '' gridiron " over the hind quarters^ and legs 

 barred to the hoofs, and the true Burchell zebra, with 

 perfectly white legs and scarcely a vestige of transverse 

 stripes across either croup or loins. From the true Burchell 

 zebra it is but a step to the better marked specimens of 

 the now lost if not extinct quagga {E. quagga). How 

 the members of the Burchelli group will be eventually 

 arranged does not concern us, as we are fortunately no 

 longer expected to believe in the fixity of species. 



Quite as much attention might have been directed to 

 the form, &c., of the hair as to the arrangement of the 

 stripes in the Equidae. But an exhaustive study of the 

 form, colour, and length of the hair of the Equidse and 

 their hybrids at different seasons and in different areas 

 would occupy a lifetime."^ 



ZEBRA HYBRIDS. 



I have bred nine zebra hybrids by crossing mares of 

 various sizes (from 11 to 15 hands) and breeds with my 

 zebra stallion ''Matopo," and I have in my possession 

 three hybrids out of zebra mares, one having for his 

 sire a donkey, the other two were sired by ponies. The 

 hybrids are to me especially interesting because of the 

 curious blending of characters, derived apparently partly 

 from their actual and partly from their remote ancestors, 

 and because they shed new light on many questions of 

 general interest, such as the origin of stripes, reversion, 



* As it happens, Nathusius lias already done admirable work in this 

 field, and I trust he may yet increase our obligations by new observations 

 and discoveries. Nathusius finds that in its hair the Somali zebra stands 

 apart from all the rest, and that in zebra hybrids the hair neither 

 resembles that of their parents, nor yet does it occupy an intermediate 

 position. 



