100 
ON THE HORSES OF ENGLAND. 
facts and circumstances were so remarkable and notorious, that no 
mistake could have been made. This curious result was once 
nearly leading to some inexcusable remarks being made at New- 
market about a colt, the property of the Earl of Suffield, which 
was got by Laurel out of Datura’s dam, and which so resembled 
Camel that it was whispered, and ventured to be asserted, that he 
must have been got by Camel. Now, on a reference to the Stud 
Book, we find the mare was covered the previous year by Camel. 
The colt was in Rich. Boyce’s stable, and the circumstances are, 
no doubt, still in the recollection of many. I am convinced Mr. 
Theobald has not forgotten them, he having been subjected to 
annoyance from some unjust remarks made to him thereupon by a 
member of the Jockey Club. 
There is a most remarkable record of similar occurrences re- 
lated in the Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1821. 
A thorough-bred mare, belonging to Sir Gore Ousely, was covered 
by a zebra, aad the produce was, as a matter of course, a striped 
animal. The mare was covered the next year by a thorough-bred 
horse, in a distant part of the country, and the produce was also a 
striped animal. The next year the same mare was covered by 
another horse, and the produce, mirabile dictu, was still a striped 
animal. The history of these facts, the paintings of the animals, 
and the veritable skins themselves, can still be seen at the Royal 
College of Surgeons, Lincoln’s Inn-fields. 
By some breeders we are told that we must attend to the selec- 
tion of our mares if we mean to breed good horses ; and no doubt 
much advantage is to be derived from a knowledge of the requi- 
site qualifications on the side of the mare. But in some countries 
the stallions, where improvement is sought, are more thought of, 
and selected with greater care, than the mares ; and I have heard 
it argued by foreigners, that such an indication is decidedly 
pointed out to us, when we look at the circumstance of mules 
always partaking more of the nature of the sire than of the dam ; 
and this is certainly very remarkable in the equine species ; for 
look at the produce of the mare got by an ass, and we perceive the 
long ears, the donkey head and tail, and all the characteristics of 
the ass ; whereas the animal got by a horse out of an ass has, 
vice versa, small ears, head like the horse, bushy tail — not like 
the ass’s, which more resembles that of the cow — and legs, and 
other parts of the frame, all partaking more of the character of the 
sire. 
It is an observation very frequently made, that there is great 
uncertainty in breeding ; that one year we succeed in breeding 
not only a good-looking animal, but also very good ones in nature ; 
but that, the next year, we prove just as unfortunate, in getting 
