ZOOLOGICAL LAWS 5°3 



north, and gradually under changed climatic conditions the type 

 changed from area to area, and they all still continued to speak the 

 same Indo-European tongue, but with dialectic variations, these also 

 being no doubt due to the physical changes in the vocal organs pro- 

 duced by environment. 



If we turn from man to the other animals we find a complete 

 demonstration of this doctrine. For instance, the conditions which 

 have produced a blond race on the Baltic have probably produced the 

 white hare, white bears, and the tendency in the stoat and the ptarmi- 

 gan to turn white in winter, whilst in the same regions of Europe and 

 Asia the indigenous horses were of a dun color, who not only turned 

 white in winter, but had a great tendency to turn white altogether. It 

 may be objected that the Lapps and Eskimo are not tall and blond, 

 but, on the contrary, short and dark; but they live within the arctic 

 circle in regions where the sun does not shine at all for a great part of the 

 year, and consequently they are quite outside the conditions of environ- 

 ment under which the tall blond race of North Germany has long 

 dwelt. Of course, in dealing with man we are always confronted with 

 the difficulties arising from his migrations ; but if we can find a family 

 of lower animals who can not be said to have thus migrated, and who 

 show the effects of environment, we shall be able to argue powerfully 

 from analogy. 



The horse family supplies the example required. If we follow it 

 from northern Asia to the Cape of Good Hope, we shall find that every 

 belt has its own particular type, changes in osteology as well as in 

 coloration taking place from region to region. First we meet the old 

 dun horse, with its tendency to become white, the best European 

 examples of which were probably the now extinct ponies of the Lofoden 

 Isles. In Asia, Prejvalsky's horse is the best living instance — a dun- 

 colored animal with little trace of stripes. Bordering on the Prej- 

 valsky horse, or true tarpan, come the Asiatic asses : first the dzeggetai 

 of Mongolia, a fawn-colored animal, the under parts being Isabella- 

 colored ; then comes the kiang of the Upper Indus Valley, seldom found 

 at a lower altitude than 10,000 feet, rufous brown with white under 

 parts, whilst, as might be expected from its mountain habitat, its hind 

 quarters are much more developed in length and strength than in the 

 asses of the plains. The Onager indicus, onager and hemippus are 

 found in all the great plains of the Punjab, Afghanistan, western 

 India, Baluchistan, Persia and Syria, whilst a few are said to survive 

 in South Arabia. All these are lighter in color than the kiang, the 

 typical onager being a white animal with yellow blotches on the side, 

 neck and head. All the Asiatic asses are distinguished by the absence 

 of any shoulder stripe, though they occasionally show traces of stripes 

 on the lower parts of the legs. The southern Asiatic asses just de- 



