92 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



in colouring first faintness and then total disappearance, if circum- 

 stances do not allow of a part, or a colour, continuing. 



Moreover, many Tigers in their striping show no evidence of 

 its having originated from spotting. Yet if one makes a close 

 analysis of the striping of a number of Tigers and the spotting 

 of a number of Leopards, he can hardly remain unconvinced that 

 the striping of the Tiger, though prima facie without traces of its 

 origin, owes its genesis to ancestral spotting. 



The reader may perhaps think that I have been drawing some- 

 what on my imagination, and seeing things which may not be 

 visible to others. But in the colossal museum of the streets of 

 London, if any one feels disposed to study this interesting subject, 

 by directing his attention to it, and by keeping his eyes open, he can 

 amply satisfy himself that what I have stated is founded on fact. 



In this connection it may be instructive to tell a little story. 

 On one Sunday I accompanied to the Zoological Gardens a lady 

 who was a Fellow of that Society. In going through the Lion and 

 Tiger department, I pointed out how distinctly the Leopard spots 

 could be seen on the legs and abdomen of the Lion. 



She said, ' Do you know, I have been here hundreds of times, 

 and have never seen those spots before ! ' 



It is impossible to find in the same Horse all the features I have 

 been discussing ; one may be found in one, and another in another, 

 because, like clouds, the dapplings shift ; but one has only to put 

 two and two together, and invoke the aid of the ' law of proba- 

 bility,' to come to conclusions similar to my own. 



I have not, however, exhausted all the facts that can be 

 adduced in support of my contention, viz., that the dapplings of 

 the Horse are only greatly modified maculations of a nature origin- 

 ally not unlike those of the Jaguar, and that the striping of the 

 Tiger and Zebra have originated from the stringing together — neck- 



