IV^] THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBYAN HORSE 445 



1. Mr Edwards examined twenty-two foals of race-horses, 

 and twelve had the spinal stripe more or less plain. 



2. A bay mare (belonging to Mr Darwin), descended from 

 a dark brown Flemish mare by a light grey Turcoman horse, 

 was put to Hercules, a thoroughbred dark bay, whose sire 

 Kingston and dam were both bays ; she had a colt which 

 ultimately turned out brown, " but when only a fortnight old 

 it was a dirty bay, shaded with mouse-grey, and in parts with 

 a yellowish tint : it had not only a trace of the spinal stripe, 

 with a few obscure transverse bars on the legs, but almost the 

 whole body was marked with very narrow dark stripes, in most 

 parts so obscure as to be visible only in certain lights, like the 

 stripes which may be seen on black kittens. These stripes 

 were distinct on the hind-quarters, where they diverged from 

 the spine and pointed a little forward : many of them as they 

 diverged became a little branched, exactly in the same manner 

 as in some zebrine species. 



The stripes were plainest on the forehead between the ears, 

 where they formed a set of pointed arches, one under the other, 

 decreasing in size downwards towards the muzzle ; exactly 

 similar marks may be seen on the forehead of the quagga and 

 Burchell's zebra. When this foal was two or three months old 

 all the stripes entirely disappeared \" 



3. Prof. Ewart's'^ high-caste Arab filly Fatima, bred by 

 Mr Wilfrid Blunt, even when full-grown, shows as distinct 

 stripes in the region of the knee and hock as are to be found 

 in Norwegian dun-coloured ponies, and she has in addition to 

 a dorsal band faint indications of markings across the withers. 



4. Major Upton noticed very frequently among colt foals 

 (though not in fillies) of the pure-bred Al-Khamseh horses 

 of the Anazah tribes of Central Arabia "a line somewhat darker 

 than the general colour of the animal running in continuation 

 of the mane along the spine, and to be traced for some way 

 even among the long hair of the tail. It is not obliterated with 

 age ; it can be traced in old horses and in those of a very dark 

 colour ^." 



1 Variation, Vol. i. pp. 60-1. '^ Ewart, Penycuik Experiments, p. Ixx. 



3 Op. cit. p. 339. 



