Nature has produced even more distinct breeds than those pro- 

 duced by man, or rather greater extremes of structure and of habit. 

 Thus very early in equine history among the race of Mesohippus the 

 so-called FOREST HORSE appeared. These horses browsed on shrubs 

 and soft plants rather than grazed, and seeking this kind of food in 

 soft and swampy ground are distinguished by broad, spreading feet 

 with three hoofs, and by short-crowned teeth resembling those of a 

 tapir. These animals lived for hundreds of thousands of years and 

 found their way even into western Asia. 



SERIES EOCENE TO OLIGOCENE 



In the other extreme is the high speed mechanism of the grazing 

 or DESERT HORSE which has limbs as finely drawn as those of the 

 existing Virginia deer and was undoubtedly an animal capable of very 

 high speed. This type is represented by Neohipparion whitneyi, or 

 " Whitney's New Hipparion," the name having been given in honor of 

 the late Mr. William C. Whitney. This is the most perfect skeleton of 

 a fossil horse ever discovered, so perfect in preservation that even the 

 cartilages of the ribs are fossilized and preserved as well as all the 



[25] 



