70 THE ZOOLOOIGAL SOCIETY. 



obtained in order to carry on certain experiments in physio- 

 logical inquiry, at the suggestion of one of the Fellows of the 

 Society." One would like to know what these and other experi- 

 ments were. The wapiti were to be " trained for drawing and 

 riding," but it does not appear that anything was done. There 

 was a small stock of zebus, and it was proposed to utiUse the 

 Brahmin bull at the Park. Nylghaie and mouflon bred there ; 

 foreign varieties of sheep were kept ; a Wallachian ram was 

 crossed with Dorset ewes, and " at the desire of some of the 

 Fellows " a trial was made " of crossing Southdown ewes with 

 the goat as well as with axis deer." Lord Stanley was specially 

 interested in sheep x goat and goat x sheep hybrids. A note 

 from him to Dr. J. E. Gray is printed in the " Gleanings from 

 Knowsley," p. 53 : "I intend to try to produce the Tityrus- 

 Musimon, according to the quaint distich given in Griffith's 

 translation of Cuvier (iv. 311).""^ Kangaroos bred freely, and 

 the observations of Joseph Fuller, the head-keeper, on the period 

 of gestation and the condition of the new-born foetus were 

 included in Owen's paper on the subject. t 



Great hopes were entertained of the results of crossing zebras 

 with asses. To this end a Maltese jack was purchased for £80 

 in 1831. This animal was described as possessing " every quality 

 to induce the recommendation of breeding from him exten- 

 sively." It was hoped that in this way a useful stock of 

 hardy and more powerful beasts of draught might be procured ; 

 but in this respect, as well as in the projected trials of the 

 capabihty of reproduction in mules, no definite information is 

 given. 



* The " quaint distich "' consists of the fourth and fifth of the following 

 hexameters : — 



DB AMBIGENIS. 



Hse sunt amhigenae quaB nuptu dispare constant. 

 Burdonem sonipes generat commixtus asellse. 

 Mulus ab Arcadicis et equina matre creatus. 

 Tityrus ex ovibus oritur hircoque parente. 

 Musimonem capra ex vervegno semine gignit. 

 Apris atque sue setosus nascitur Ibris. 

 At lupus et catula formant coeundo lyciscam. 



These verses are attributed to Eugenius, Bishop of Toledo, and are printed in 

 the " Anthologia Veterum " of Peter Burmann the Younger (ed. 1759, ii. 453). 

 i Proceedings, 1833, pp. 128-132. 



