164 DISTINCT SPECIES PRESENT Cuap. V, 



siin])le vaiiiition, slripod on tlio legs like a zebra, or stri})cd on 

 the sliouUler.s like an ass. In the liorsc we see this tendency 

 strong^ whenever a dun tint appears — a tint Avhidi approaches 

 to that of the general coloring' of the other species of the ge- 

 nus. The appearance of the stripes is not accompanied by any 

 cliange of form or by any other new character. AVe see this 

 tendency to become striped most strongly displayed in hybrids 

 from between several of the most distinct species. Now ob- 

 serve the case of the several breeds of pigeons : they are de- 

 scended from a pigeon (including two or three sub-species or 

 geographical races) of a bluish color, with certain bars and 

 other marlcs ; and Avhcn any breed assmnes by simple variation 

 a l)luish tint, these bars and other marks invariably reappear ; 

 but without any other change of form or character. When the 

 oldest and truest breeds of various colors are crossed, wc sec a 

 strong tendency for the blue tint and bars and marks to reap- 

 pear in the mongrels. I have stated that the most probable 

 hypothesis to account for the reappearance of xery ancient 

 characters, is — that there is a tendency in the young of each 

 successive generation to produce the long-lost character, and 

 that this tendency, from unknown causes, sometimes prevails. 

 And we have just seen that in several species of the horse- 

 genus the stripes arc either plainer or appear more commonly 

 in tlie young than in the old. Call the breeds of pigeons, some 

 of which have bred true for centuries, species ; and how exact- 

 ly parallel is the case with that of the species of the horse- 

 genus ! For myself, I venture confidently to look back thou- 

 sands on thousands of generations, and I see an animal striped 

 like a zebra, but perhaps other^vise very differently constructed, 

 the common parent of our domestic lu)rse (whether or not it be 

 descended from one or more wild stocks), of the ass, the hemi- 

 onus, quagga, and zebra. 



He who believes tliat each equine sjiccies was indepen- 

 dently created, will, I presume, assert that each species has 

 been created with a tendency t(i vary, botli under Nature and 

 under domestication, in this particular manner, so as often to 

 become striped like other species of tlie genus ; and that each 

 has been created with a strong tendency, when crossed with 

 species inhabiting distant quarters of tlie world, to produce 

 hybrids resembling in tlieir stri})es, not their own parents, but 

 other species of the genus. To admit this view is, as it seems 

 to me, to reject a real for an imreal, or at least for an unknown, 

 cause. It makes the works of God a mere mockery and decep 



