THE ZEBRA. 265 



ears and tail; fo that, at a diftance, the whole, 

 body of the animal has the appearance of being 

 artificially adorned, in the molt elegant manner, 

 with ribands. In the female, thefe bands are 

 alternately black and white, and black and yel- 

 low in the male. The fhades are always lively 

 and brilliant; and the hair is fhort, clofe, and 

 line, the luftre of which augments the beauty of 

 the colours. The zebra, in general, is fmallcr 

 than the horfe, and larger than the afs. Though 

 he has often been compared to thefe two ani- 

 mals, under the names of the wild horfe *, and 

 Jiriped afs f, he is not a copy of either, but 

 ihould rather be regarded as their model, if in 

 Nature every fpecies were not equally original, 

 and had not an equal right to creation. 



The zebra, therefore, is neither a horfe nor 

 an afs; for, though it has often been attempted, 

 we never learned that they intermixed and pro- 

 duced together. She-aiTes in feafon were pre- 

 fented to the zebra which was in the menagery 

 of Verfailles in the year 1761. He difdained 

 them, or rather difcovered no emotion. He, 

 however, fported with them, and even mounted 

 them, but without difcovering any defire, or ex- 

 ternal fign. This coldnefs could be attributed 

 £0 no other caufe than an unfuitablenefs in the 



natures 



* Equus ferus genere fuo ; zebra ; Klein, de quad. p. 5. 



•f Infortunatum animal, quod tam pulchris ccloribus prae- 

 elitum, Afini nomen in £uropa ferre cogatur. Vide Ludol- 

 phi comment, p. 150. Ibique zebrae figuram, 



