64 



ASSES. 



Chap. II. 



in the various equine species to feel convinced that even a 

 character so unimportant as this had a distinct meaning, and 

 was thus led to attend to the subject. I now find that in the 

 Asinus Burchellii and quagga, the stripe which corresponds with 

 the shoulder-stripe of the ass, as well as some of the stripes on 

 the neck, bifurcate, and that some of those near the shoulder 

 have their extremities angularly bent backwards. The forking 

 and angular bending of the stripes on the shoulders apparently 

 stand in relation with the changed direction of the nearly 

 upright stripes on the sides of the body and neck to the trans- 

 verse bars on the legs. Finally we see that the presence of 

 shoulder, leg, and spinal stripes in the horse, — their occasional 

 absence in the ass, — the occurrence of double and triple shoulder- 

 stripes in both animals, and the similar manner in which these 

 stripes terminate at their lower extremities, — are all cases of 

 analogous variation in the horse and ass. These cases are 

 probably not due to similar conditions acting on similar consti- 

 tutions, but to a partial reversion in colour to the common 

 progenitor of these two species, as well as of the other species 

 of the genus. We shall hereafter have to return to this subject, 

 and discuss it more fully. 



