CuAF. XI MALE ELEMENT ON THE MOTHER-FOKM. 435 



believe in the further power of pollen, when applied to a 

 distinct species or variety, to influence the shape, size, ccloia', 

 texture, &c., of certain parts of the mother-plant. 



Turning now to the animal kingdom. If we could imagine 

 the same flower to yield seeds during successive years, then it 

 would not be very surprising that a flower of which the 

 ovarium had been modified by foreign pollen should next 

 year produce, when self-fertilised, offspring modified by 

 the previous male influence. Closely analogous cases have 

 actually occurred with animals. In the case often quoted 

 from Lord Morton,^^^ a nearly purely-bred Arabian chesnut 

 mare bore a hybrid to a quagga : she was subsequently sent 

 to Sir Goie Ouseley, and produced two colts by a black Arabian 

 horse. These oolts were partially dun-coloured, and were 

 striped on the legs more plainly than the real hybrid, or even 

 than the quagga. One of the two colts had its neck and 

 some other parts of its body plainly marked with stripes. 

 Stripes on the body, not to mention those on tho legs, are ex- 

 tremely rare, — I speak after having long attended to the 

 subject, — with horses of all kinds in Europe, and are almost 

 unknown in the case of Arabians. But what makes the case 

 still more striking is that in these colts the hair of the mane 

 resembled that of the quagga, being short, stiff, and upright. 

 Hence there can be no doubt that the quagga affected the 

 character of the offspring subsequentl}^ begot by the black 

 Arabian horse. Mr. Jenner Weir informs me of a strictly 

 parallel case : his neighbour Mr. Lethbridge, of Blacklieath, 

 lias a horse, bred by Lord MostjTi, which had previously 

 borne a foal by a quagga. This horse is dun with a dark 

 stripe down the back, faint strij^es on the forehead between the 

 eyes, plain stripes on the inner side of the fore-legs and rather 

 more faint ones on the hind-legs, with no shuulder-sf.iipe. 

 The mane grows much lower on the forehead tlian in the 

 horse, but not so low as in the quagga or zebra. The hoofs 

 arc proportionally longer than in the horse,— so much so that 

 the farrier who first shod this animal, and knew nothing of 



»»' 'Philos. Transact.,' 1821, | 20. 



2 F 2 



