498 



THE HORSE'S POSITION IN THE ANLMAL WORLD 



" All other sijotted mammalia, whether marked longitudinally, trans- 

 versely, or diagonally, are modifications of the jaguar. 



" Stripes, whether longitudinal, transverse, or diagonal, are fusions of 

 lines, of spots, or of rosettes; witness the spotting of certain cheetahs, 

 of certain horses, and of certain tigers with twin stripes." 



In the self-coloured mammals. Dr. Bonavia contends, there is evidently 

 a total obliteration of all special markings, though they now and then turn 



Fig. 663. — GhjpiodiDi reticulatiis, restored fi- i, i 1 1 m.Lins exhibited in the Natural History Museum, 



South Koiisinp'ton 



up as atavic or ancestral marks, due perhaps to some atomic change or 

 crossing in the nerve-centres. 



Proceeding to the subject of coloration as it affects the hoi'se, the animal 

 which is most immediately under consideration, it is at least very remai'k- 

 able to observe the curious mixture of colours in roan, piebald, skewbald, 

 grey, and dappled horses — the last term indicating a peculiar pattern 

 irrespective of colour, as the dappling occurs in bay, brown, grey, and dun- 

 coloured horses. 



It appears from the experience of breeders that dappled foals are 

 unknown, the peculiar marking appears as the animal gets older; and it 

 must be admitted that in the figures in the accomjjanying plate (LXVIII) 



