No. 396.] FACTS AND THEORIES OF TELEGONY. 92I 
The crossing of Iceland, Irish, English thoroughbred and 
Arabian mares with the zebra, and the breeding of them subse- 
quently to their own or closely related varieties, failed to afford 
the slightest evidence in support of the theory of the infection 
of the germ. 
Although the “ Penycuik Experiments ” were evidently un- 
dertaken for the express purpose of proving the truth or fal- 
sity of the supposed phenomena of telegony, Professor Ewart 
struck upon certain by-products of no inconsiderable scientific 
value. It will be recalled that the existing striped horses 
are grouped under four species: the quagga (E. quagga) of 
South Africa, the most ass-like, and the one of Lord Morton 
fame; Burchell’s zebra (Æ. burchellii), the species used by Pro- 
fessor Ewart, and occurring on the plains north of the Orange 
River; the true zebra, or mountain zebra (£. zebra), and the 
Somali zebra (£. grevyi) of Northeastern Africa. Professor 
Ewart is of the opinion that, as far as the coloration is con- 
cerned, the last is the most primitive of living zebras, and the 
colors and markings of the hybrid foals resemble those of this 
species rather than the color-pattern of their sire. In other 
words, the process of hybridization results in the resurrection of 
ancestral characters which have long remained latent, and his 
experiments show also that even the mere crossing of varieties, 
or the in-breeding of domestic animals may lead to the produc- 
tion of offspring possessing characters which are to be explained 
only on the principle of reversion. 
Turning to Darwin’s The Variation of Animals and Plants 
under Domestication, we read under the caption “ Crossing as 
a Direct Cause of Reversion ” : ; 
“It has long been notorious that hybrids and mongrels often 
revert to both or to one of their parent forms, after an interval 
of from two to seven or eight, or, according to some authorities, 
even a greater number of generations. But that the act of 
crossing in itself gives an impulse toward reversion, as shown 
by the reappearance of long-lost characters, has never, I be- 
lieve, been hitherto proved. The proof lies in certain pecul- 
iarities which do not characterize the immediate parents, and 
therefore cannot have been derived from them, frequently 
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