96 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



be a very simple matter ; at least, not at present. 

 But Mendelian investigations tend to considerably 

 simplify these problems. Mr. Bunsow leads ns to 

 understand that grey horses may be born all colours, 

 though most of them are born black with sparsely 

 scattered white hairs. It seems that it is very 

 seldom they are born actually grey in colour. 

 Another fact which we have learned from Mr. 

 Bunsow is that some grey foals may become white 

 in their second year, while others do not become so 

 until later years. 



This colour change in animals and in the flowers 

 of some plants with advance in age"'-" is a familiar 

 fact. It is so much so, that its significance seems 

 not to have received that degree of study which it 

 deserves. It is, we may suppose, conformable to 

 the appearance of the antlers in a stag, and to the 

 beard in man, both of which appear relatively late 

 in life. Grey rats are born colourless, with 

 the exception of the eyes ; their skin then turns 

 black and the hairs when very small are black, 

 subsequently passing through grey-black to grey- 

 ness (brown). The same phenomenon, we under- 

 stand from Mr. Hurst, is seen in ral)bits. 



This change of colour in grey horses, and the 

 difference in time at which the complete change 

 occurs, suggests that grey horses are not all alike. 

 Mr. Bunsow has already dealt very fully with that, 

 and has shown that some grey horses are pure for 



* The term age is here used wholly in a relative sense. A 

 period of a day or a few hour.-s in flowers may constitute the transition 

 from full bloom to faded and withered petals. 



