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XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 427 
however, forcibly brought forward by Mr. Darwin, 
_ which hasbeen noticedin connection with the breed- 
ing of domesticated pigeons; and it is, that how- 
Ihe ig try 
aL a ee 
_ ever different these breeds of pigeons may be from 
each other, and we have already noticed the great 
differences in these breeds, that if, among any of 
those variations, you chance to have a blue pigeon 
turn up, it will be sure to have the black bars 
across the wings, which are characteristic of the 
original wild stock, the Rock Pigeon. 
Now, this is certainly a very remarkable cir- 
- cumstance; but I do not see myself how it tells 
_ very strongly either one way or the other. I 
think, in fact, that this argument in favour of re- 
- currence to the primitive type might prove a great 
deal too much for those who so constantly bring it 
forward. For examplé, Mr. Darwin has very for- 
 cibly urged, that nothing is commoner than if you 
examine a dun horse—and I had an opportunity 
of verifying this illustration lately while in the 
_ islands of the West Highlands, where there are a 
_ great many dun horses—to find that horse exhibit 
a long black stripe down his back, very often 
stripes on his shoulder, and very often stripes on 
his legs. I, myself, saw a pony of this description 
a short time ago, in a baker’s cart, near Rothesay, 
in Bute: it had the long stripe down the back, 
and stripes on the shoulders and legs, just like 
those of the Ass, the Quagga, and the Zebra. 
Now, if we interpret the theory of recurrence as 
