ON ZHEBRA-HORSH HYBRIDS. 67 
was 43 in. at six months, and is now (January 12th) 434 in.; the 
circumference of the knee being 94 in., and the fore-shank 54 in. 
Though Heckla has always carried a heavy coat, and is dark in 
colour with white tips to her ears, she generally agrees with Romuius 
in her build and markings; but her action is freer, and more like 
that of a hackney than a Zebra. She promises to be quite as 
large and as active as Romulus, and more able than Romulus to 
withstand cold and to flourish under adverse circumstances. 
The length of the head and the shortness of the neck suggest 
that the Iceland ponies belong to a different race than the black 
Oriental-looking West Highland ponies. They may be direct 
descendents of the Horses hunted by the men of the Reindeer 
Period. Their ancestors may have gradually worked their way 
northwards with the Tundra fauna which then as now lived near 
the edge of the ice. If Heckla owes her dark colour to reversion, 
it may be inferred her ancestors were of a mouse-dun colour. 
It is too soon to offer any opinion as to whether Romulus or 
any of the Zebra-mare hybrids will prove fertile or specially 
useful either at home or abroad, and it is equally impossible to 
say whether they will withstand the African Tsetse fly, or have 
better constitutions than either ordinary mules or Asses, but this 
much may be said, they all seem very hardy. Romulus has been 
in perfect health from the first, as indeed has been his Zebra sire, 
while nearly all my mares and Horses have had colds and other 
ailments. Quite recently the four hybrid foals and three ordinary 
foals have been suffering from the presence of Strongylus armata. 
One of the pure-bred foals (Mulatto’s second foal to an Arab 
Horse) died from the effects of the parasite on the 1st of January, 
and a thoroughbred foal has been reduced almost to a skeleton ; 
but the four young hybrids, though no longer so bright or in so 
good condition, are evidently rapidly recovering, and will, I trust, 
be soon all right again. 
The editor of the ‘Scottish Farmer’ believes Romulus “ will 
be invaluable for driving or riding on account of his hardiness,” 
and he has stated that all the hybrids ‘‘ have feet and legs like 
whalebone, with the kind of pasterns that Clydesdale men fancy.’’* 
* ¢ Scottish Farmer,’ Nov. 27, 1897. 
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