1858.] STRIPED HORSES. Ill 



Beethoven thoroughly ; there is something grand in her sweet 

 tones. 



Farewell. I have partly written this note to drive bee's-cells 

 out of my head ; for I am half-mad on the subject to try to 

 make out some simple steps from which all the wondrous 

 angles may result* 



I was very glad to see Mrs. Hooker on Friday ; how well 

 she appears to be and looks. 



Forgive your intolerable but affectionate friend, 



C. DARWIN. 



C. Darwin to W. D. Fox. 



Down, April i6th [1858]. 



MY DEAR Fox, I want you to observe one point for me,, 

 on which I am extremely much interested, and which will give 

 you no trouble beyond keeping your eyes open, and that is a 

 habit I know full well that you have. 



I find horses of various colours often have a spinal band or 

 stripe of different and darker tint than the rest of the body ; 

 rarely transverse, bars on the legs, generally on the under-side 

 of the front legs, still more rarely a very faint transverse 

 shoulder-stripe like an ass. 



Is there any breed of Delamere forest ponies? I have 

 found out little about ponies in these respects. Sir P. Egerton 

 has, I believe, some quite thoroughbred chestnut horses ; have 

 any of them the spinal stripe ? Mouse-coloured ponies, or 

 rather small horses, often have spinal and leg bars. So have 

 dun horses (by dun I mean real colour of cream mixed with 

 brown, bay, or chestnut). So have sometimes chestnuts, but I 

 have not yet got a case of spinal stripe in chestnut race horse, 

 or in quite heavy cart-horse. Any fact of this nature of such 

 stripes in horses would be most useful to me. There is a 



* He had much correspondence on this subject with the late Professor 

 Miller of Cambridge. 



