100 TELEGONY AND REVERSION. 



zebra or present what I consider a siuipler and more 

 primitive arrangement, as, e. g., having twenty-four bands 

 in the neck, and in some cases having rows of spots 

 instead of transverse stripes in the region of the rump. 

 The hybrids may be said to take after their sire in their 

 nostrils, their hoofs, and to a less extent their chestnuts, 

 and in the males having two teats.* They may be said to 

 be intermediate in their make as a whole, but especially in 

 their eai-s, eyes, neck, withers, and hind quarters, and in 

 their mane and tail. In having a somewhat long head they 

 agree with the Somali zebra, but in having long curved eye- 

 lashes they are, as far as I am aware, unlike the majority 

 of both horses and zebras. In the dorsal band being 

 bounded along its whole length on each side by a narrow 

 yellow band, they differ from their sire, and again approach 

 the Somali zebra, in which there is a light space at each 

 side of the dorsal band for more than half its length. 



Were the Ancestors of the Horse Stri'ped ? 



The fact that all the five hybrids differ in their mark- 

 ings very decidedly from their sire, while they in many 

 respects suggest the Somali zebra, demands an explana- 

 tion. Darwin seems to have been not only impressed 

 with the difference between hybrids and their immediate 

 ancestors, but also with their striking resemblance to 

 known or supposed remote ancestors. t He accounted for 

 this resemblance by saying crossing had led to reversion. 

 As the question of reversion is of the utmost importance 

 in considering supposed cases of telegony, it will be 

 necessary to deal with it at some length. There is, however, 

 a prior if not equally important question, viz.. Have all 



* Foetal colts have frequently, if not always, distinct rudiments of teats 

 up to about the sixth month. Relatively large teats are usually present 

 in the jackass and in male mules. 



f Mr. Francis Galton has long recognised that hybrids differ from their 

 immediate ancestors. He quite recently ])ointed out that " the offspring 

 of two diverse parents do not necessarily assume an intermediate form." 

 —Nature, Oct. 21st, 1S97, p. 599. 



