POSITION AND STRUCTURE OF HORSE 6i 



one case described by Mr. Percival ^ they arose 

 about two inches above the orbital processes, and 

 were very like those in a calf from five to six 

 months old, being from half to three-quarters of an 

 inch in length. Azara^ has described two cases 

 in South America in which the projections were 

 between three and four inches in length : other 

 instances have occurred in Spain." 



The same abnormality is displayed in four 

 specimens exhibited in the British Museum (Natural 

 History). The first of these is the skull of an 

 English horse presented by Mr. Hanbury Carlile ; 

 while of the three other specimens of the same 

 type, one is the frontal region of the skull of an 

 English horse showing the pair of rudimentary 

 horns in precisely the same position as in the first 

 specimen, but of somewhat larger size. The other 

 two are models of the foreheads of thoroughbreds, 

 each showing a pair of similar horns, situated as 

 in the preceding specimens. These are important 

 as showing that the skin extends uniformly over 

 the horn-like processes, without any trace of a 

 dermal horn ; the same condition being observable 

 in the other two examples. Baron Francis Nopcsa 

 informs me that he knows of a horse in Transylvania 

 with rudimentary horns. The significance of these 

 horn-like growths is at present inexplicable, seeing 



* T/ie Veterinary^ vol. i. p. 224. 



* Quadrupedes du Paraguay^ vol. ii. p. 313, 1801. 



