There are two closely related animals, the domestic ass and the mule,
which ought to show this inguinal pattern if affinity and variation
could be fairly invoked to account for it on the theory of selection.
These are also animals whose mode of life is locomotive, but in a much
less degree than the horse and their paces are quieter and less free
in character. What then is found in them as to the size or persistence
of this pattern? In the ass it is absent or nearly so (I have found
one example of its presence), and in the mule it is variable and never
occupies more than half the area of that in the horse. These facts
agree closely with the hybrid character of the mule and the differing
activities of the horse, mule and ass. The pattern in Przewalski’s
horse is small and oval and resembles that of the mule. The _onager_
(_equus asinus_), which is very much like these three domestic animals
in form, has an inguinal pattern, much less in size indeed than that
of the horse, but well-defined, and this fact is in keeping with its
character for remarkable fleetness of foot and activity. The three
zebras, Mountain, Grevy’s and Burchell’s, show no inguinal pattern,
in spite of their _power_ of rapid locomotion and resemblance in size
and form to the horse. Though they have that power they exercise it in
their wild lives for their own sakes alone, in the intermittent way
which is bound up with their habit of life, and not for the sake of
man, as in the case of the horse.
The pectoral and inguinal regions of the domestic horse are two of
the most valuable fields in the mammalian body for studying the
formation by muscular action of patterns of hair, for this animal is
the locomotive animal _par excellence_. Here the process has been
carried to the extreme limit, and these two are prominent examples
among the characters to which I drew attention in a paper published in
the _Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London_, “On proposed
additions to the accepted systematic characters of certain Mammals,”
June 9th, 1904, Vol. I. I am still of the opinion that they deserve
“Flag rank,” though they have not yet been promoted. Be that as it may
I think it may be well here to compare two animals belonging to the
family Equidæ, the horse and zebra, which resemble one another very
closely in form--in respect of these patterns.
Horse and Zebra Compared.
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