Fed. 1, 1899.] Supplement to th« "Tropical AgriculturisV 
595 
■will be readily believed that even to start the 
experiment was in itself no easy task, but all 
difficulties were overcome by the acquisition of 
the Burchell zebra stallion Matopo, 12-:^^, from 
the Antwerp Zoological Gardens. This animal's 
stripes are clearly defined. There are fite upright 
bars behind the shoulder, and then an equal num- 
ber of oblique bars behind that. The legs are 
beautifully marked with alternate stripes, choco- 
late colour and yellow. The face is al.so barred. 
He is still quite wild, considering his long captivity, 
and careers round the paddock at a great rate v^ith 
a vey light action. Having secured mares the 
profrsor mated them with the zebra, and the 
•woresof experimenting has now been going on for 
abouk live years, and has almost reached that stage 
wheut a final pronouncement may be looked for 
from his pen at an early date. Speaking, how- 
ever, to a class jf agricultural students vyho visited 
the scene of his e-tperiments, Prof . Ewart was good 
enough to give a short account of his method of 
■work. He e.Yplained to them the science of 
atavism, or, as he preferred to call it, regression or 
reversion. Many years ago a number of people 
believed in reversion. 
Darwin especially pointed out that when two 
extreme types were crossed reversion undoubtedly 
occurred. When his first hybrids appeared he had 
very great difficulty in understanding the peculiiir 
markings on them, and this led him to study 
reversion. He proposed to show them some results 
of these reversion experiments. First, lie showed 
an ordinary-looking Angora rabbit with the cha- 
racteristically fluffy iiair. The father of it was 
perfectly smooth-haired and white, and the doe 
was the same. He showed a second one with a 
little dark hair about the snout and ears, showing 
the presence of Himalayan blood, while the third 
had practically all the markings of a Himalnyan. 
These three were of the same litter, yet one was 
an Angora, one practically a Himalayan, and the 
other about a third Himalayan. This variation 
he accounted for by the mother of the father of 
the three being an Angora. Here was a case of 
reversion straight back to the grandmother. One 
of the aunts of the litter was a Himalayan, and 
although these have none of the aunt's blood in 
them, one was an e.xact copy of her. They might 
account for that by saying that they were both 
descended from a Himalayan ancester at least 
three generations removed. He also bred a large 
number of white doe rabbits with wild rabbits, 
it was very difficult to tell the progeny from wild 
rabbits. He did noc consider this a case of 
reversion to the wild rabbit, but of prepotency. 
He showed a live cockerel alongside a stuffed 
jungle fowl, and pointed out that it bore a striking 
resemblance to this common ancestor. It had a 
red breast at first, but as it got older it got dark 
like the jungle fowls. It, however, had a double 
comb, unlike the jimgle fowl. It was a cro<s 
between an liuliau Game Dorking cock and n very 
dark-coloured bantam. These were two extreme 
varieties, and they miglit call the result a reversion 
towards the jungle fowl. The cross between a 
Dalmatian dog and a collie was e.xtremeiy like a 
pointer or foxhound. It was believed by all 
fanciers that the Dalmatian had come from a 
pointer ancestor. Well, if this were true, tiiey 
had a reversion to the ancestors of the sire, but no 
indication of the ancestors of the dam. Referring 
to pigeons, he pointed out that all the 1-50 varieties 
which existed had descended from the Blue Rock, 
of which there were three kinds — the Shetland, 
the Indian, and the Madeira Blue Rock pigeons. 
Darwin had also experimented with pigeons, but he 
had failed to point out that his reverted bird resem- 
bled the pure Rock pigeon in anything but colour. 
It was necessary to repeat these experimenrs 
to see if there was complete reversion. He bred 
two Blue Fantuils (one with some white feather<) 
from a white and a blue coloured bird, and he 
got a perfectly white bird. Now, that seemed tij 
be an utterly impossible result, for fanciers toM 
them that when they had got a little blue into the 
blood they would not be likely to get it out. Ndw, 
there was a case of reversion to the grandparents 
just as in the case of the rabbit. He crossed a 
White Fantail and a Blue Pouter. According to 
fancieis he should have had a blue bird like a 
p uiter, but he had an almost white bird shaped 
vtry like a pouter. That was no case of reversion, 
as both of the-e birds were m re or less in-bred. 
He also exhibited a Blue Rock pigeon, whicji w;is 
a better bird of the kind than could be bought in 
Edinburgh or Ghisgo'.v. It carried itself well, and 
behaved like a Blue Rock. It was obtained by a 
cross betweeii an Archangel and a White Fantail. 
The professor considered it a most wonderfid 
result. They might say that it was not reversion. 
He did not see how they ■svould find a simpler 
explauadon. This was all leading up to the 
telegony experiments. 
We reserve Prof. Ewart's account of these 
experiments for our next issue. 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
Mr. A. H. Benson, Fruit Expert, Queensland, 
referring to the mango, says : — " For really good 
mangoes I believe there will be a steady and in- 
creasing demand once the public of the other 
Colonies get to know what a first-class mmgo 
is. I believe a market could be found for high- 
class preserevd m uigoes put up in glass, provided 
the same were got up in an attractive manner, aud 
if so this should provide a good market for the 
fruit." 
The latest meth:>d of destroying mice and flying 
foxe~, both agricultural pests, is by inocculating 
some of them with the bacillus typhi murium and 
leaving the rest to be infected by the inoculated. 
Fm- warts on cattle a correspondent to the Cape 
A(jricultural Juuraal recommends the following 
simple but effectual remedy: Dissolve ordinary 
washing soda in water. Make the mixture strong 
but do not use caustic soda. Dab this on the 
warts twice every day and let it dry on, and the 
warts will soon disappear. 
The Af/ricultural Journal of N.S. Wales for 
November contains a paper on the Ramie Fibre 
plant and supj)lies many interesting particulars. 
The following is a description of the way in which 
the " ribbons" are got without macliinery : " The 
freeh stems are steeped for a short periotl in boil- 
ing water in a tank U ft. x '^^ ft. ^ 5 ft. ; about l' lbs. 
