144 TELEGONY 



To take a simple instance, the racehorse Blair-Athol had a 

 very characteristic blaze or white bald face, and it is said that 

 mares which had once borne foals to Blair-Athol subsequently 

 produced to quite different stallions foals which exhibited the 

 Blair-Athol blaze. It is very generally asserted by dog-breeders 

 that if a thorough-bred bitch has had pups to a mongrel, her 

 value is greatly decreased, for she will not afterwards breed 

 true. 



The alleged phenomena are of much interest, but the evidence 

 of their actual occurrence is far from satisfactory, and their 

 theoretical interpretation in terms of telegony is beset with 

 physiological difficulties. But as a belief in telegony is still 

 widespread, it will not be unprofitable to consider (a) the alleged 

 facts, and (b) the interpretations suggested. 



2. The Classic Case of Lord Morton's Mare 



The classic case, given by Lord Morton (1821), is thus sum- 

 marised by Darwin : "A nearly purely bred, Arabian, chestnut 

 mare bore a hybrid to a quagga ; she was subsequently sent to 

 Sir Gore Ouseley, and produced two colts by a black Arabian 

 horse. These colts were partially dun-coloured, and were striped 

 on the legs more plainly than the real hybrid, or even than the 

 quagga. One of the two colts had its neck and some other 

 parts of its body plainly marked with stripes. Stripes on the 

 body, not to mention those on the legs, and the dun-colour, are 

 extremely rare I speak after having long attended to the 

 subject with horses of all kinds in Europe, and are unknown 

 in the case of Arabians. But what makes the case still more 

 striking is that the hair of the mane in these colts resemtted 

 that of the quagga, being short, stiff, and upright. Hence there 

 can be no doubt that the quagga affected the character of the 

 offspring subsequently begot by the black Arabian horse " 

 (Darwin, 1868, vol. i. pp. 403-4). 



