DAPPLED AND STRIPED HORSES 63 



to see a pair of finely shaped grey carriage-Horses prettily spotted. 

 Should any of them die, their skins would make pretty rugs. 

 Unfortunately, for some reason, spotted Horses are not fashionable, 

 and do not appear to be kept for breeding purposes. 



In some instances the dark reticulations are all over the body, 

 but more conspicuous on the flanks, the dappling on other parts 

 being often modified. The white dapples of the grey Horse 

 can be seen to vary from irregular patches to small spots. In 

 some regions, such as on the fore- and hind-legs of Fig. 36, the 

 smaller dapples seem to have amalgamated into large fern-like 

 patches. In other cases, such as those on the fore-leg of Fig. 34, 

 the dapples have degenerated into star-shaped marks, which often 

 dwindle into minute specks like those on the flank of Fig. 39, all 

 the rest of the ground being of a dark grey, and in some cases 

 almost black. Indeed, we might say that the two extremes of the 

 grey dappled Horse series were — {a) a white Horse with traces of 

 grey reticulations, and {b) a blackish horse with traces of white 

 spots. In other words, the grey reticulations that isolate the 

 white dapples of the grey Horse can be obliterated, either 

 wholly or partially, and the Horse made either wholly white, or 

 white with vestiges of dappling. On the contrary, the white 

 dappling may be obliterated, and the Horse made either wholly 

 dark grey or dark grey with vestiges of white spotting. The 

 star-marks on the fore-legs of Fig. 34 should be compared with 

 those of Fig. 36. 



The invasion of the white dapplings by the grey reticulations 

 is partially seen in Fig. 37. 



Few, I venture to say, have any notion how much may be learnt 

 from Horses of all sorts which are to be seen by thousands in the 

 streets of the Metropolis. They are ready-made experiments for 

 scientists to take up and theorise about. Unless pure white. 



