Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/85

Rh lustrous. A casual glance showed that in the plan of his striping Romulus was utterly unlike his sire, and, when a careful examination was made, it became evident that in the number and arrangement of the markings he was not unlike a Somali Zebra. As fig. 1 (PI. II.) shows, the brow has been tattooed as if to represent a huge finger print. Instead of the four or five acutely-pointed frontal arches of his sire, there are fourteen rounded arches, that remind one of the face of the Somali Zebra. Instead of twelve cervical stripes, as in Matopo, there are in Romulus twenty-four cervical stripes, all of which can be traced into the mane. In having so many cervical stripes, he seems to be more primitive than even the Somali Zebra (in which I have never seen more than fourteen cervical stripes), but closely agrees with one of my Zebra mares when the shadow stripes are included. The shoulder stripe bifurcates higher up than in Matopo, and there are seven indistinct arches in the triangular space below the point of bifurcation. Behind the shoulder stripe there are nine (Plate III., fig. 1) fairly distinct vertical stripes instead of five, as in his sire (Plate I., fig. 1). Apparently corresponding to the three flank stripes so often seen in Burchell Zebras, there are in the hybrid three stripes in front of the stifle, which first run upwards and then arch backwards to end below the root of the tail (Plate III., fig. 1). In the triangular space between the first flank stripe and the ninth vertical body stripe are numerous narrow indistinct lines, some of which proceed towards the ventral band, while others join the first or great flank stripe. In line with these nearly transverse stripes there were at birth numerous spots arranged in nearly transverse rows over the loins and rump. Now that the hybrid is over a year old (Plate III., fig. 2) most of the spots have united to form somewhat zigzag narrow bands, almost identical in their direction with the narrow stripes over the hind quarters of the Somali Zebra. On the left side the blending of the spots has advanced further than on the right. Counting from the shoulder stripe to the root of the tail there are forty-three stripes in the hybrid,—about the same number as in the Somali Zebra; in Matopo there are only five transverse stripes behind the shoulder stripe (Plate I., fig. 1). It seems to me the blending of the spots over the hind quarters of Romulus goes a long way towards proving that stripes are in