DAPPLED RUMINANTS 95 



There cannot be much doubt that the Kiang, or wild Ass, 

 originated from a Zebra-marked ancestor. In the Origin of Species, 

 p. 199, it is stated, on the authority of Colonel Poole, ' that the 

 foals of this species are generally striped on the legs, and faintly 

 on the shoulder.' In the adult they totally disappeared excepting 

 the spinal stripe. So have the markings disappeared from the 

 hind quarters and legs of the Quagga (Fig. 54). 



Now let us turn for a moment from the Horse, the coloration 

 of which I think I have sufficiently discussed, to another set of 

 animals, viz., Giraffes and Bulls. From Fig. 57 it will be seen that 

 the large blotches of the Giraffe are separated from each other by 

 a lighter ground. These blotches may be nothing more than a 

 confluence of a number of rosettes, such as we see on the shoulder 

 of Fig. 34, or those on the fore-leg of Fig. 36. Indeed, on the 

 shoulder of one of these figured Giraffes (left one), there are two 

 blotches which seem distinctly to be made up of several smaller 

 blotches. 



Cows and Bulls are rarely seen with any vestigial marks of 

 ancestral spotting or rosetting ; but the Bull of Fig. 57, on its flank, 

 shows distinct spotting not unlike that on the flank of the Horse 

 in Fig. 37. Then I think no one will say that the striking rosetting 

 on the flank of the Zebu of Fig. 58 is not almost identical with 

 that on the shoulder and fore-leg of the Horse in Fig. 36. 



The very extraordinary marks of this Zebu, so uncommon 

 among domestic cattle, leave no doubt in my mind that the 

 ruminants and the Horse are more closely allied than may have 

 been supposed. Faint similar marks on the hump, abdomen, 

 and haunches, lead to the presumption that in some ancestral 

 ruminant the whole skin was covered with similar rosettes. Now 

 domestic cattle are either blotched, piebald, or self-coloured ; and 

 Deer and Antelopes are either spotted, striped, or self-coloured. 



