GENERAL INTHODOCTION. xix 



hardly three months old. The dam in this case was a 

 young bay, small thoroughbred Irish mare. Mules are 

 said to be hard to rear, but so far, with the exception 

 mentioned, there has been no difficulty with my hybrids. 

 The hybrid that succumbed was very faintly marked, and 

 in most respects more a horse than a zebra. The dam, 

 barely three years old when the hybrid was born, suf- 

 fered from the Strongylas scourge during the winter, 

 and was consequently out of condition during the spring. 

 Moreover I believe the dam is a victim of inbreedinor. 

 One of the evils of inbreeding is that the young are 

 often difficult to rear, succumbing sometimes to one 

 disease, sometimes to another. This hybrid, though weak 

 to start with, did extremely well for a time, but after a 

 few days of unfavorable weather it took ill and died 

 quite suddenly from what seemed to be an attack of acute 

 rheumatism. Several other foals, having quite as well 

 bred dams, living under exactly similar conditions, suffered 

 not at all. 



Before leaving the hybrids, I may say that since 

 Romulus appeared on the scene Baron de Parana has 

 succeeded in crossing a Burchell zebra and an ordinary 

 mare in Brazil. Bai'on de Parana seems to have satisfied 

 himself that all attempts to cross a male Burchell zebra 

 and a mare prior to 1892 (when he began his experi- 

 ments) had failed. Notwithstanding this, he set to 

 work and eventually succeeded, his hybrid arriving not 

 many months after the birth of Romulus. Though 

 summer succeeded summer without the expected results, 

 the Baron, with exemplary patience, continued his 

 experiments until success crowned his efforts. All who 

 have had experience in work of this kind will heartilj^ 

 congratulate Baron de Parana, and wish him still further 

 success. 



