70 TELEGONY AND REVERSION. 



may be thus accounted for in all cases ; and notwithstanding- 

 all the criticisms that have been made, it is quite possible 

 that had Lord Morton's mare not borne a hybrid foal to a 

 quag-ga her offspring to the black Arabian horse might 

 have been absolutely devoid of stripes even as foals. 



Darwin was abundantly familiar with the fact that 

 stripes now and again appear on the shoulder, legs, neck, 

 and face in horses in all parts of the world and of various 

 breeds and colours. Hence I imagine that, on coming to 

 the conclusion that the quagga had affected the character 

 of the subsequent offspring begot by the black Arabian 

 horse, he was not a little influenced by Lord Morton's 

 description of the mane in the colt and filly. Undoubtedly 

 stripes together with an erect or nearly erect mane would 

 practically prove infection had taken place. This leads 

 me to consider the evidence afforded by the mane iu the 

 Ouseley colts. Lord Morton, referring to the mane, says, 

 " That of the filly is short, stiff, and stands upright, and 

 Sir Gore Ouseley's stud-groom alleged that it never was 

 otherwise ; that the mane 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 the hybrid. This 

 is the more remarkable as the manes of the Arabian breed 

 hang lank, and closer to the neck than those of most 

 others." 



When some daj-s ago I re-examined the oil-paintings 

 by Agasse of Lord Morton's mare, her quagga-hybrid, and 

 her three foals to Sir Gore Ouseley's black Arab horse I 

 specially noticed, as was previously pointed out by Sette- 

 gast, that the mane of the filly (Fig. 15) was not represented 

 as short, stiff, and erect, while that of the colt was not shown 

 as arching upwards.* It is well known that the mane of 



* I failed to ascertain the date of the paintings, but from the third pure- 

 bred foal forming one of the series it may, I think, be taken for granted 

 that the sketches were made during the summer or autumn of 1S21, ;'. e 

 about a year after Lord Morton made his communication to the Roval 

 Society. Lord Morton's mare, it may be mentioned, missed havin'^ a foal 

 in 1S20. See Sir E. Home's ' Comp. Aiiat.,' vol. iii, p. IS, IS'23. 



