134 TELEGONY AND REVERSION. 



ancestors are due to reversion, either towards tlie less 

 remote ancestors of the zebi-as or horses, or towards the 

 common ancestors of all the recent Equidse.* In considering 

 the question, Were the ancestors of the horse sti-iped ? 

 it has been incidentally shown that all foals do not pass 

 through a striped stage, and that many foals have stripes 

 at birth which ordinarily completely or all but completely 

 disappear. That foals are usually of a bay or dun colour, 

 and frequently striped at birth, seems to be best accounted 

 for by saying they wear for a time their ancestral colours, 

 either owing to the influence of simple heredity, or to an 

 extraordinary kind of heredity, commonly known as atavism 

 or reversion. It has been especially shown that the greater 

 the difference between the sire and the dam, the greater 

 the reversion is likely to be ; and, it may be added, the 

 longer are the ancestral markings likely to be retained. 

 For example, hybrids between two distinct species usually 

 resemble the remote ancestors more than crosses between 

 two varieties or races, and while cross-bred forms (crosses 

 between closely allied races or varieties) may soon lose any 

 hints they may have of remote ancestors at birth, hybrids 

 generally retain the ancestral characters throughout life. 



The Nature of Telegony. 



Having considei'ed the question. Were the ancestors of 

 the horse striped ? and the still more important question, 

 Does reversion occur in the Equidee ? we are now in a 

 position to deal more effectively with the telegony problem, 

 as far as the horse family is concerned. It will be evident 

 that by assuming horses have descended from striped 

 ancestors, and that the less remote ancestors sometimes 

 still reassert themselves, that by what we term atavism or 

 reversion horses even now sometimes wear the ancestral 

 colours, it will be evident that by granting these premises 

 the question has been enormously complicated. 



* Or to use Mr. Gallon's phraseology, the hybrids have reverted so as 

 to resemble the hypothetical " midpareut," uniting the characters of their 

 respective remote ancestors. 



