160 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



instance at least the founders of the family 

 have every reason to regard their descendants 

 with undisguised pride. For the horse family 

 started in life in a small way, and the first of 

 the line, the Hyracotherium, was " a little an- 

 imal no bigger than a fox, and on five * toes 

 he scampered over Tertiary rocks," in the age 

 called Eocene, because it Avas the morning of 

 life for the gi'cat group of mammals whose cul- 

 minating point was man. At that time, west- 

 ern North America was a country of many 

 lakes, for the most part comparatively shallow, 

 around the reedy margins of which moved a 

 host of animals, quite unlike those of to-day, 

 and yet foreshadowing them, the forerunners 

 of the rhinoceros, tapir, and the horse. 



The early horse — we may call him so by 

 courtesy, although he was then very far from 

 being a true horse — was an insignificant little 

 creature, apparently far less likely to succeed 

 in life's race than his bulky competitors, and 

 yet, by making the most of their opportunities, 



* Four, to be exacl ; but we prefer to sacrifice the fool of 

 the Hyracothere i-nther than to take liberties ivith one of the 

 feet of Mrs. Stetson's poem. 



