Chap. XIII. 



REVERSION. 



41 



perfectly true. This race is known to have been formed by the union of 

 two varieties of silver-grey rabbits. Now, when a Himalayan doe was 

 crossed by a sandy-coloured buck, a silver-grey rabbit was produced; 

 and this is evidently a case of reversion to one of the parent varieties. The 

 young of the Himalayan rabbit are born snow-white, and the dark marks 

 do not appear until some time subsequently; but occasionally young 

 Himalayan rabbits are born of a light silver-grey, which colour soon dis- 

 appears ; so that here we have a trace of reversion, during an early period 

 of life, to the parent-varieties, independently of any recent cross. 



In the third chapter it was shown that at an ancient period some breeds 

 of cattle in the wilder parts of Britain were white with dark ears, and that 

 the cattle now kept half wild in certain parks, and those which have run 

 quite wild in two distant parts of the world, are likewise thus coloured. 

 Now, an experienced breeder, Mr. J. Beasley, of Northamptonshire, 27 

 crossed some carefully selected "West Highland cows with purely-bred 

 shorthorn bulls. The bulls were red, red and white, or dark roan ; and the 

 Highland cows were all of a red colour, inclining to a light or yellow shade. 

 But a considerable number of the offspring— and Mr. Beasley calls atten- 

 tion to this as a remarkable fact — were white, or white with red ears. 

 Bearing in mind that none of the parents were white, and that they 

 were purely-bred animals, it is highly probable that here the offspring 

 reverted, in consequence of the cross, to the colour either of the aboriginal 

 parent-species or of some ancient and half-wild parent-breed. The 

 following case, perhaps, comes under the same head : cows in their natural 

 state have their udders but little developed, and do not yield nearly so 

 much milk as our domesticated animals. Now there is some reason to 

 believe 28 that cross-bred animals between two kinds, both of which are 

 good milkers, such as Alderneys and Shorthorns, often turn out worthless 

 in this respect. 



In the chapter on the Horse reasons were assigned for believing that 

 the primitive stock was striped and dun-coloured; and details were given, 

 showing that in all parts of the world stripes of a dark colour frequently 

 appear along the spine, across the legs, and on the shoulders, where they 

 are occasionally double or treble, and even sometimes on the face and 

 body of horses of all breeds and of all colours. But the stripes appear 

 most frequently on the various kinds of duns. They may sometimes 

 plainly be seen on foals, and subsequently disappear. The dun-colour 

 and the stripes are strongly transmitted when a horse thus characterised 

 is crossed with any other; but I was not able to prove that striped duns 

 are generally produced from the crossing of two distinct breeds, neither of 

 which are duns, though this does sometimes occur. 



The legs of the ass are often striped, and this may be considered as a 

 reversion to the wild parent-form, the Asinus tcmiopus of Abyssinia, 29 which 

 is thus striped. In the domestic animal the stripes on the shoulder are 

 occasionally double, or forked at the extremity, as in certain zebrine 



» '? ardener ' s Chron - and Agricultural Gazette,' 1866, p. 528. 



* Ibid., 1860, p. 343. 29 Sclater> in < Proc _ Zoolog _ Sq< 1862? p 163< 



