152 TELEGONY AND REVERSION. 



was only a faint change of colour neai* the apex of the hairs 

 forming the indistinct stripes. If the stripes in this foal 

 are due to " infection," the hairs forming them could 

 hardly be expected to be as deeply and extensively pig- 

 mented as in the half-zebra Romulus. As Fig. 43 shows, 

 there are cervical but do shoulder stripes, numerous 

 stripes on both the fore and hind legs, vertical stripes 

 across the body, oblique stripes across the loins, faint 

 stripes across the flank feather, and, most interesting 

 and important of all, ti-ansverse stripes across the croup. 

 I have already mentioned that Darwin never found leg 

 stripes occurring in horses without the dorsal stripe, and 

 even in the striped colt he bred there was a trace of the 

 spinal stripe. In Mulatto's second foal, however, no trace 

 of a dorsal stripe could ever be detected, i. e. one of the 

 oldest if not quite the oldest stripe in the Equidse family was 

 not represented in this foal. The stripes on the neck and 

 the lower parts of the legs are not specially significant, but 

 the stripes between the elbow and the shoulder- joints and 

 on a level with the stifle are undoubtedly rare even in foals, 

 while numerous narrow stripes in the region of the loins 

 and stripes across the croup have, as far as I am aware, 

 only previously been observed in the foal bred by Darwin. 



In Darwin's foal, it will be remembered, '' 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 kit- 

 tens." These stripes were plainest on the forehead, where 

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

 but they were also " distinct on the hind quarters, where 

 they diverged from the spine and pointed a little for- 

 wards." This colt ultimately turned out brown, but when 

 " two or three months old all the stripes entirely disap- 

 peared."* 



In the absence of a figure it is, unfortunately, impossible 

 to contrast the stripes described by Darwin with those in 

 Mulatto's second foal. I may, however, point out that 

 * ' Animals and Plants,' vol. i, 2nd edit.., p. 60. 



