



240 STRIPES ON HORSES 



more graceful. Though Zebra markings are not usual upon E. 

 caballus, there are plenty of examples of what we may perhaps 

 in this case term a " reversion " to a striped state. The cele- 

 brated " Lord Morton's mare," 1 whose portrait hangs in the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, is an interesting case of this. It was as a 

 matter of fact thought to be an example of that rather doubtfully- 

 occurring phenomenon, " telegony." Its history is briefly this. 

 The animal was the offspring of a mare that had previously pro- 

 duced to a male Quagga a hybrid foal. Afterwards a second foal 

 was produced by the same mare to an Arab sire. This foal, the 

 one in question, was striped, and hence was thought to be an 

 example of male prepotency. But instances are known of un- 

 questioned Horses which show the same stripes, such as a Norway 

 pony which had not even seen a Zebra ! 



A last remnant of the naked palm of the hand and sole of the 

 foot is left in the shape of a small bare area, smaller in the Horse 

 than in the Asses, known technically as the " ergot," the term being 

 that of the French veterinarians. As already mentioned, the Horse 

 differs from the Asses and Zebras in the fact that the hind-limbs 

 have callosities on the inner side. They are known as " chestnuts," 

 and their nature has been much disputed. It has been suggested 

 that they are the last rudiment of a vanished toe ; but in all 

 probability they are, as already suggested, traces of glandular 

 structures, which are common upon the limbs in many animals 

 (see above, p. 12). 



It is a singular fact that there are apparently no wild Horses 

 of this species. The case is curiously analogous to that of the 

 Camel, which also is only known as feral or domesticated. Why 

 the Horse should have become extinct as a wild animal, consider- 

 ing that when it does run wild it can thrive abundantly, is im- 

 possible to understand. Sir W. Flower thinks 2 that " the nearest 

 approach to truly wild horses existing at present are the so-called 

 Tarpans, which occur in the Steppe country north of the sea of 

 Azov between the river Dnieper and the Caspian. They are 

 described as being of small size, dun colour, with short mane and 

 rounded obtuse nose." But he adds that there is no evidence to 

 prove whether they are really wild. In favour, however, of their 

 possibly being wild and indigenous European Horses, may be 



1 See Ewart, The Pcnicnik Experiments, Constable and Co., 1899. 

 2 The Horse, London, 1890. 



