The times., 1899-10-01
THE ZEBRA
His Origin aRd Relation TO the
Horse.
From the London Nsws. }

Horse.
From the London News.l
For some time past Prof. ]. Cossar Ew-
art, regius professor of natural history in
Edinburgh University, has been engaged
in carrying on a series of investigations
with a view to the elucidation of certain
questions which have long yexed breeders
and naturalists. At Penycuick, not far
from Edinburgh, the professor has estab
lished a kind of experimental station, and
here be has bred several zebra hybrids, for
up TO the present. Prof Ewart has con-
fined his attention chiefly to zebras and
horses. Messrs A. and C. Black have just
published, under the title The Penycuick
Experiments, an account, written by Prof.
Ewart, of his work SO far as it has gone
al present
At the Royal Institution Prof. Ew-
art has delivered course of three lectures
on .Zebras and Zebra Hybrids. At the
first of these he began by referring to the
earliest records We possessed of the exist
ence of zebras in historic times, and men
toned that the first zebra did not reach
Europe till the year 1T60. The curious ap-
pearance of the zebra and its peculiarly
striped body, naturally awakened curiosity.
and many absurd statements were advanced
by credulous writers as to their origin. By
means of diagrams Prof Ewart traced
pointed out the geographical distribution
of the fossil Equidae, and reference was
made to the great family of Equidae, which,
comprised horses, asses, and Zebras. The
earliest ancestor of the horse was crea-
ture named Phenacolus, and in the United
States National Museum a specimen of this
animal might be seen II had five toes to
each foot. and a very small brain. The
next in process of evolution was the hyra-
I carr btff fhroa
Then came epihippus, creature which be-
gan TO have some resemblance to the horse
as We know him at the present day. Next
/ came mesohippus, next merychippus Eext
! hipparion, and then protohippus (the real
ancestor Of the equidae), and lastly equus.
! In his second lecture Prof Ewart con-
/ fined his remarks almost entirely to the
stripes of the zebra, dwelling on their origin
and probable uses. There could be little
doubt that the stripping OF the zebra was of
! great benefit to the animal in enabling il to
avoid detection. He had tried many ex-
perimenis on his own Zebras, and he was
astonished TO find how difficult il was to
recognize them even when quite close up
I 10 them. Even at distance of five yards
! he had failed to distinguish the animals
under certain circumstances. At ten yards
the stripes would completely disappear. On
one occasion he actually ran into a zebra,
because not only did the stripes prevent the
animal from being observed, but ii stood
so STILL and breathed so quietly, that it
completely eluded observation. Any animal
which had a uniform color was much more
likely TO be seen than one with stripings OF
spots on its coat. He had made some ex-
periments with a bay pony, and he found
that when he put on the animal an arrange
ment of ribbons TO initiate the stripe of the
zebra. il was much less easily distinguished
1 than in the ordinary natural condition. The
subject of protective coloration was very
large one, and he could only touch on few
! special points. He once let loose some forty
/ 70 fifty tame rabbits in field where there
were great many wild ones OF brown
| color In a short time the white ones had
| disappeared. owing no doubt to their tame
ness. and their conspicuous coloration.
| There were of course, white wild rabbits
! ia England, but nature, as If to compensate
for their color and endowed them with
! special powers of self-preservation. Many
J instances were on record in which hunters
have been deceived by natural objects. and
have fred at those under the impression
/ that they we're animals. The lecturer pro-
! ceeded TO discuss the question as TO why
horses have lost their stripes. AT one time
| horses were banded and as the zebras had
retained their stripes il was interesting 10
know why horses had lost them 1t was all
a question OF adaptation 10 surroundings,
and as stripes became OF no use to the
horse they rapidly disappeared
Prof Ewart brought TO close his course
J Of lectures on zebras and zebra hybrlds by
| giving an account of the experiments that
! have been conducted both by himself and
! by others on the breeding of zebra hybrids
These hybrids were divided into two
| classes. First Zebra-ass hybrids and sec
ond. zebra horse hybrids. At Penycuica
Prof Ewart had mated various kinds o.
zebra with various horses and ponies, and
the crossing obtained threw much light or
the complicated questions of reversion. va
ration, telegony, etc. The sire was in al
cases a zebra and the dam horse or {
pony and the general rule was that tn,
hybrid had more of the characteristics O
/ the father than the mother. In cases wher'
| a zebra sire was mated with thorough
bred horse the offspring was considera
bic Improvement on the father The mark
ings on the zebra hybrids offered man,
points of interest to the student OF breed
ing. and the pictures thrown on the screel
| enabled the audience to see the characte
| of the offspring and TO note whether the,
| took more after one of their parents thai
the other.
Dealing with the possible use OF zebra
I and zebra hybrids from practical poin
OF view. Prof. Ewart did not hold out mucl
1 hope of their proving of much value [,
II ~dH lAnpcooADic " ciduiNot
from the zebra nature that fear of its nat
Gral enemy, the lion, which was so imbue'
In its system. Some of Prof Ewart's re
bras and zebra hybrids were ordinarily O
the most docile nature but at times sud
den fear would overcome them, and the
e would become quite unmanageable. N
matter whether the animal were in harnes
, or not when this fit OF fear seized il
would leap over a hedge over wal
e and II would be some time before il re
r covered its equanimity. Prof. Ewart re
s ferred to the team of zebras which til
c Hon Walter Rothschild used to drive an
& which used occasionally to be seen abou
c IN London.
q CECIL RHODES IDEA.