Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/88

56 The light-coloured hairs began to drop out from the face and neck about the middle of September, and by the end of September he looked considerably darker. The yellow and also the dark brown hairs continued to fall out, except over the back, all through October, and by the middle of November only the orange-coloured lining of the ears was left to remind one of the rich coat he wore during the earlier weeks of his life. By the end of November the new coat was established. The bright orange facial bands were replaced by much paler bands, the muzzle was nearly brown in colour, the neck and body intermediate spaces approached a mouse-dun colour, while the lower parts of the legs were of a dark brown tint. From the withers to near the root of the tail the hair was especially long and thick. For a time the hair over the croup and the greater part of the rump was so much longer than the hair around the root of the tail that it looked as if part of the hind quarters had been previously clipped. The new coat consisted of a thick layer of woolly hair, from half an inch to nearly two inches in length, and of a less complete coat of stronger hairs, many of which were nearly three inches in length. Near their roots all the body hairs were light in colour, which implies that had the hybrid been clipped, there would have been little or no indication of stripes left. In the Zebra, on the other hand, the dark pigment extends to the roots of the hair, and hence, however short the hair may be, the banding is quite evident. Recently the skin around the root of Matopo's tail was injured, with the result that the hair, together with some of the epidermis, was shed; but even before the points of the new hair could be detected, the position of the dark bands was perfectly distinct. The skin of the Zebra has been described as uniformly black, even under the white bands; but it would be more accurate to say it is of a nearly uniform dark grey colour.

About the middle of March the long hairs began to drop out, and by the end of March they came away in handfuls. As the long hairs were shed from the body, the long hairs were shed from the upper half of the tail, with the result that for a time the tail of the hybrid was little better covered than the tail of his sire. By the end of May all the long hairs—light and dark—had vanished, and early in June the dark and mouse-coloured woolly hairs