160 TBLEGONY AND REVERSION. 



is notliing remarkable about the second foal ; it is quite 

 unnecessary to search for an out-of-the-way explanation, 

 such as telegony supplies. If, on the other hand, croup 

 stripes are extremely rare, if they only occur once in say 

 every ten thousand foals, the chance of all the stripes on 

 the second foal being due to simple reversion is extremely 

 remote. Again, the Island of Eum ponies have been under 

 observation for many generations, and yet there is no 

 record of their foals ever having more than a dorsal band 

 and a cloudy patch over the withers. 



Further, it may be pointed out that it is not a little 

 remarkable that both Lord Morton's and Lord Mostyn's 

 mares, after having borne cjuagga hybrids, produced some- 

 what zebra-like foals to horses. Had Mulatto not been 

 first mated with a zebra, she, like the grey Irish pony and 

 the well-bred bay mare, might have produced a foal devoid 

 of stri]ies, or with, at the most, a dorsal band and obscure 

 bars on the legs. 



I may mention the mane, hoofs, and tail of Mulatto's 

 second foal were, as far as I could judge, perfectly horse- 

 like ; that the eyes were hazel-coloured, as in Matopo and 

 in uiost of the AVest Highland ponies ; while the eyelashes 

 consisted partly of straight hairs, as in ^lulatto, and partly 

 of the characteristic-curved hairs as in the zebra hj'brids. 



Althnugli as the hair increased in length and the foal's 

 coat was shed the niarkiugs grew fainter, the croup stripes 

 could still be detected at the end of December, when, un- 

 fortunately, Mulatto's second foal succumbed to ailments 

 resulting from the presence of countless numbers of 

 the parasite Strongijlus. Although evidence of reversion 

 could hardly be expected in the skeleton, I have examined 

 the couditioii of the ulna and of the second and fourth 

 digits. The ulna I found still complete, as complete as in 

 an eight months' foetus ; and with the exception of about 

 an inch (near but not quite at the lower end) compiletely 

 ossified, and affording a large articular surface for the 

 cuneiform or outer carpal bone. Further, the inner vestigial 

 digits, /. e. the vestiges of the second digits of both the 



