ZEBRA-HORSE HYBRIDS. 35 



from the 12tli of September to the 12th of December, 

 1897, he increased one and a quarter inches. He now 

 (January, 1898) measures 47i in., nearly 12 hands, and 

 the circumference of the fore shank is 6| in., the knee 

 being 10 in., and the girth 52| in. 



The foals of the black Island of Rum ponies are fre- 

 quently of a mouse-dun colour, with at times an indistinct 

 dorsal band, and a cloudy patch over the shoulder. Usually 

 after the first coat is shed the pure-bred foals are dark 

 brown, and later nearly black, with sometimes indistinct 

 dappling over the flanks and hind quarters. As already 

 mentioned, the body colour of Romulus at birth was chiefly 

 of a yellow tint, the yellow approaching bright orange on 

 the brow, while it approached a straw colour at the muzzle 

 and below the knees and hocks. Under the neck and 

 under the belly the prevailing body colour wasdai'k brown, 

 the ventral band being very indistinct. 



The ears were lined with fine bright orange-coloured 

 hairs. When only a month old the hybrid began to shed 

 his foal's coat. The light-coloured hairs began to drop 

 out from the face and neck about the middle of September, 

 and by the end of September he looked considerably 

 darker. The yellow and also the dark brown hairs con- 

 tinued to fall out, except over the back, all through 

 October, and by the middle of November only the orange- 

 coloured lining of the ears was left to remind one of the 

 rich coat he wore during the earlier weeks of his life. By 

 the end of November the new coat was established. The 

 bright orange facial bands were replaced by much paler 

 bands, the muzzle was nearly brown in colour, the neck 

 and body intermediate spaces approached a mouse-dun 

 colour, while the lower parts of the legs were of a dark 

 brown tint. From the withers to near the root of the 

 tail the hair was especially long and thick. For a time 

 the hair over the croup and the greater part of the rump 

 was so much longer than the hair around the root of the 

 tail that it looked as if part of the hind quarters had been 

 previously clipped. The new coat consisted of a thick 



