ECLirSE AND PERSIMMON 169 



legs at full speed, both being off the ground at 

 once. This points to the conclusion that a long 

 femur ending in a low, well-developed and mus- 

 cular stifle-joint, turned well outwards, as in Bendigo, 

 is a speedy conformation. Some of the greyhound's 

 pace is also attributed to the joint which corresponds 

 to the horse's knee being near the ground, and that 

 is one reason why short canon-bones are often 

 noticed to accompany high form in a thorough- 

 bred. The lengths of the radio-ulnar bone (in 

 the fore leg) and of the tibia (in the hind leg) 

 are therefore important when compared with the 

 fore and hind canon-bones ; and I am now inclined 

 to think that the comparisons instituted by Sir John 

 Hills between the scapula and humerus are not 

 so valuable, because the scapula is embedded in 

 a mass of muscle and cannot either move or in- 

 fluence movement to the extent shown by a bone 

 more freely situated. It is, however, true, as Sir 

 John Hills pointed out, that the relative length 

 of the humerus to the scapula increases in certain 

 animals in proportion to their speed, and in the 

 swiftest animal of all, the lynx, it is much longer. 

 In horses it is usually shorter, and the fact that 

 it is the same length as the scapula in Ormonde 

 may be one explanation of that horse's pace. If 

 the humerus is not only long, but also as nearly 

 perpendicular as possible, to give a swing like a 



