76 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS 



female hybrid apparently intermediate in character 

 between the sire and the dam. A short time after- 

 wards Lord Morton sold his mare to Sir Gore 

 Ouseley, who bred from her by a fine black Arabian 

 horse. The offspring of this union, examined by 

 Lord Morton, were a two-year-old filly and a year- 

 old colt. He describes them as having 



' the character of the Arabian breed as decidedly as can be 

 expected where fifteen-sixteenths of the blood are Arabian, and 

 they are fine specimens of that breed ; but both in their colour 

 and in the hair of their manes they have a striking resemblance 

 to the quagga.' 



The description of the stripes visible on their coats is 

 careful and circumstantial, but the evidence of the 

 nature of the mane is less convincing : 



' Both their manes are black ; that of the filly is short, stiff, 

 and stands upright, and Sir Gore Ouseley's stud-groom alleged 

 that it never was otherwise. That of the colt is long, but so 

 stiff as to arch upwards and to hang clear of the sides of the 

 neck, in which circumstance it resembles that of the hybrid.' 



This is the classical — we might almost say the test 

 — case of telegony : the offspring resembled not so 

 much the sire as an earlier mate of the dam. The 

 facts related tended to confirm the popular view, and 

 that view is now widely spread. Arab breeders act on 

 the belief, and it is so strongly implanted in the minds 

 of certain English breeders that they make a point of 

 mating their mares first with stallions having a good 

 pedigree, so that their subsequent progeny may 

 benefit by his influence, even though poorly-bred sires 

 are subsequently resorted to. 



The evidence of Lord Morton's mare convinced 

 Darwin of the existence of telegony. After a careful 

 review of the case, he says : ' There can be no doubt 

 that the quagga aflfected the character of the offspring 

 subsequently got by the black Arabian horse.' Darwin, 



