152 DISTINCT SPECIES PRESENT 



I will, however, give one curious and complex case, not 

 indeed as affecting any important character, but from 

 occurring in several species of the same genus, partly 

 under domestication and partly under nature. It is a case 

 almost certainly of reversion. The ass sometimes has 

 very distinct tranverse bars on its legs, like those on 

 the legs of the zebra. It has been asserted that these are 

 plainest in the foal, and, from inquiries which I have 

 made, I believe this to be true. The stripe on the shoulder is 

 sometimes double, and is very variable in length and outline. 

 A white ass, but not an albino, has been described without 

 either spinal or shoulder stripe; and these stripes are some- 

 times very obscure, or actually quite lost, in dark-colored 

 asses. The koulan of Pallas is said to have been seen with a 

 double shoulder-stripe. Mr. Blyth has seen a specimen 

 of the hemionus with a distinct shoulder-stripe, though 

 it properly has none; and I have been informed by Colonel 

 Poole that the foals of this species are generally striped on the 

 legs and faintly on the shoulder. The quagga, though so 

 plainly barred like a zebra over the body, is without bars 

 on the legs; but Dr. Gray has figured one specimen with 

 very distinct zebra-like bars on the hocks. 



With respect to the horse, I have collected cases in 

 England of the spinal stripe in horses of the most distinct 

 breeds and of all colors; transverse bars on the legs are not 

 rare in duns, mouse duns, and in one instance in a chest- 

 nut; a faint shoulder-stripe may sometimes be seen in 

 duns, and I have seen a trace in a bay horse. My son 

 made a careful examination and sketch for me of a dun 

 Belgian cart-horse with a double stripe on each shoulder 

 and with leg- stripes. I have myself seen a dun Devon- 

 shire pony, and a small dun Welsh pony has been carefully 

 described to me, both with three parallel stripes on each 

 shoulder. 



In the northwest part of India the Kattywar breed of 

 horses is so generally striped, that, as I hear from Colonel 

 Poole, w^ho examined this iDreed for the Indian Govern- 

 ment, a horse without stripes is not considered as purely 

 bred. The spine is always striped, the legs are generally 

 barred, and the shoulder-stripe, which is sometimes double 

 and sometimes treble, is common; the side of the face, 

 moreover, is sometimes striped. The stripes are often 



