stripe plainly bifurcating over the fore leg. In the common mule it
likewise sometimes bifurcates. When I first noticed the forking and angular
bending of the shoulder-stripe, I had seen enough of the stripes in the
various equine species to feel convinced that even a character so
unimportant as this had a distinct meaning, and was thus led to attend to
the subject. I now find that in the E. burchellii and quagga, the stripe
which corresponds with the shoulder-stripe of the ass, as well as some of
the stripes on the neck, bifurcate, and that some of those near the
shoulder have their extremities bent angularly backwards. The bifurcation
and angular bending of the stripes on the shoulders apparently are
connected with the nearly upright stripes on the sides of the body and neck
changing their direction and becoming transverse on the legs. Finally, we
see that the presence of shoulder, leg, and spinal stripes in the horse,--
their occasional absence in the ass,--the occurrence of double and triple
shoulder-stripes in both animals, and the similar manner in which these
stripes terminate downwards,--are all cases of analogous variation in the
horse and ass. These cases are probably not due to similar conditions
acting on similar constitutions, but to a partial reversion in colour to
the common progenitor of the genus. We shall hereafter return to this
subject, and discuss it more fully.


CHAPTER 1.III.

PIGS--CATTLE--SHEEP--GOATS.

PIGS BELONG TO TWO DISTINCT TYPES, SUS SCROFA AND INDICUS.
TORFSCHWEIN.
JAPAN PIGS.
FERTILITY OF CROSSED PIGS.