68 



HYBRID EQUIDjE. 



utilised would no doubt produce most valuable hybrid 

 offspring. The hybrids of the Burchell zebra with the 

 horse have already been mentioned ; it also breeds freely 

 with the common ass. In the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society at Melbourne there are some Burchell's zebras that 

 were bred in Paris, for this most useful animal breeds freely 

 in confinement. On September 6th, 1892, an experiment 



BURCHELL S ZEBRA AND HYBRID FOAL. 



(From a photograph.) 



was made by crossing the zebra with a white so-called 

 Siamese ass, which was obviously a variety of the domesti- 

 cated Equus asinus. The foal was born on October 25th, 

 1893, showing that the period of gestation in Burchell's 

 zebra resembles that of the ass in being considerably over 

 twelve months. The young one is described as a strong, 



