246 



Dr. J. C. Ewart. 



Though many other instances of supposed " infection " have been 

 recorded, Lord Morton's mare may be said to still hold the field — the 

 theory of telegony still mainly rests on the assumption that this 

 historic mare was " infected " by a quagga some years before she 

 passed into the hands of Sir Gore Ouseley and produced three " colts 

 to a black Arabian horse. One might even go further and without 

 much exaggeration assert that the telegony hypothesis at the present 

 moment mainly rests on an allegation by Sir Gore Ouseley's stud 

 groom. 



It has been generally assumed that Lord Morton's mare (a nearly 

 purely bred chestnut Arab) was " infected " for two reasons (1) because 

 the subsequent offspring were of a yellowish-brown colour and more or 

 less striped, and (2) because, according to Sir Gore Ouseley's stud 

 groom, the mane of one of the striped foals had always been upright,, 

 while in another it arched to one side clear of the neck. The presence 

 of stripes in the subsequent offspring has never been questioned, nor 

 yet is there any doubt that when Lord Morton in 1820 inspected the 

 " colts " the mane in the filly was upright as in the quagga, while that 

 of the colt resembled the mane of Lord Morton's quagga hybrid. 

 There is, however, an absence of reliable evidence that the filly's mane 

 had always been upright as alleged to Lord Morton by Sir Gore 

 Ouseley's stud groom. 



Were the evidence in support of this allegation satisfactory, there 

 would I think be no escape from the conclusion that Lord Morton's 

 mare was " infected " by the quagga. Hitherto the presence of stripes 

 on the " colts " has generally been looked upon as affording strong 

 evidence of " infection." Believers in telegony admit that stripes are 

 not uncommon in Norwegian and certain other breeds of horses, but, 

 with Mr. Darwin, they have taken for granted that they never or very 

 rarely occur in Arabs. 



I find, however, that though in Arabia dun-coloured horses are dis- 

 liked and never used for breeding, stripes even in the most renowned 

 strains are not so uncommon as is generally supposed. I have now a 

 purely bred Arab filly of about the same colour as Lord Morton's filly f 

 but, unlike the filly we have heard so much of, both the fore and hind 

 legs are marked with distinct dark bars, and there are faint indications 

 of stripes across the withers and a distinct dorsal band. The history 

 of this filly (bred by Mr. Wilfred Sea wen Blunt at Crabbet Park, 

 Sussex, and very kindly presented to me) is well known for many 

 generations ; none of her ancestors could possibly have been " infected ' r 

 by a zebra. The dun colour and stripes are doubtless the result of 

 simple spontaneous reversion, for, unlike Lord Morton's mare, there is 

 no history of a cross in her pedigree. This filly proves that even in 

 high-caste Arabs of the best desert blood a dun colour and stripes may 

 unexpectedly appear. 



