120 



TELEGONY AND REVERSION. 



striped is an interesting problem, wliich need not be here 

 considered. The point of interest is that a profusely striped 

 dam belonging to an ancient wild species should have pro- 

 duced an obscurely striped foal to a cross-bred pony, the 

 ancestors of which have long been under domestication. 



It thus appears that parents devoid of stripes may have 

 more or less striped offspring; that all foals do not pass 

 through a striped stage during development; that foals 

 may lose the majority of their stripes soon after birth, and 

 that though one of the pai^ents is striped all over, the 



Fig. 38. 



Skiu of the Dam of Lady Meux.' three Hybrids. 



offspring may only possess faint indications of zebra-like 

 markings. 



Having seen that foals have often stripes at birth which 

 afterwards disappear, the question of so vital importance 

 in connection with telegony may now be asked : Are the 

 stripes often found on foals due to reversion or atavism ? 

 A direct answer to this question is of course impossible, 

 but an answer sufficiently convincing may be arrived at by 

 the deductive method. 



It seems to be admitted that all the breeds of pigeons 



