POSITION AND STRUCTURE OF HORSE 55 



conjunction with melanism and erythrism) piebalds 

 and skewbalds, and in another direction greys, 

 and finally whites. 



That this is not a mere fanciful suggestion is 

 made evident by the fact that melanism, erythrism, 

 and albinism are recognised features in the colour- 

 development of wild animals. It is added that 

 chestnuts, from the extension of the red to the mane 

 and tail, may be regarded in the light of " sports." 



It has been suggested by Professor W. Ridge- 

 way, in his work On the Origin of the Thorough- 

 bred Horse^ that the white forehead-star and 

 white "stockings" so often observed in chestnut 

 thoroughbreds are hereditary features derived from 

 the ancestor of that breed ; but this idea is rejected 

 by Mr. Pocock, who shows that such markings are 

 to be regarded as first steps in the direction of 

 albinism, and are consequently in no sense ancestral. 



Dappling, as already mentioned, may occur in 

 horses of all colours, but is most common in bays 

 and greys and rarest of all in duns ; this prevalence 

 being the main justification for Dr. Bonavia's view 

 that it is an extremely ancient feature in the equine 

 organisation. Mr. Pocock believes, indeed, that dap- 

 pling is even older than striping, and he has also 

 been led to conclude that the ancestral forms of the 

 horse family were dark-coloured animals marked 

 with white or yellowish flecks or spots arranged in 



^ Cambridge, 1905. 



