240 STRIPES ON HORSES CHAP. 
more graceful. Though Zebra markings are not usual upon JL. 
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,” '-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-lmbs 
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* that “the nearest 
approach to truly wild horses existing at present are the so-called 
Tarpans, which oceur 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 Penicwik Experiments, Constable and Co., 1899. 
* The Horse, London, 1890. 
