THE FOSSIL SERIES 



The horse from the A'ery earhest geologic times, rouj);hly estimated 

 at two and a half miUion years, all the period since the birth of the Rocky 

 Mountain system, has been the aristocrat among (luadrupeds in point of 

 speed and delicacy and beauty of construction. This statement is 

 borne out by the comparison in the American Museum exhil)itions of 

 the little coursing hound, the whippet, and the original four-toed horse, 

 in which the proportions of the different segments of the limbs are seen 

 to be strikingly similar; in fact, the Eohippus probably had a little more 

 speed, indicated in the elongate structui-e of its hind feet, than the 

 whii)pet. 



SKULL OF MODERN HORSE ANJ) MOI>El, OF JUflUPrUS 



It is very difficult to realize the multiple structure of the foot and 

 the diminutive size of these very ancient horses until a life-size model 

 of one is placed beside the skull of a modern draught horse, when it is 



[22 I 



