io8o 



THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



species is afforded by certain rude drawings incised on fragments of slate, bone, or 

 antler, which have come down to us from the ancient inhabitants of Europe during 

 the later Stone Implement period. These drawings show that the Pleistocene horse 

 was a rather small, heavily-built animal, with a large head, and a rough mane and 

 tail, in all of which respects it agreed with the under-mentioned tarpan or wild horse 

 of the steppes. 



Dr. Nehring is of opinion that the wild horse of Western Europe was domesti- 

 cated and tamed by the men of the later Stone Implement period at a time when steppe- 

 like conditions still prevailed in those regions; and there can be but little, if any, 

 doubt that the horses used by the ancient Britons and Germans in the time of Caesar 



ENGLISH RACE HORSE ("DONCASTER"). 



were derived from the same native stock. It is, however, probable that the existing 

 domesticated horses of Europe have a twofold origin, and that, while the so-called 

 thoroughbred and half-bred races have an Asiatic or, perhaps, partially North- 

 African descent, the breeds denominated by the Germans ' ' cold-blooded ' ' are de- 

 rived from the primitive European stock. 



To how late a date the original wild horses of Western Europe existed as such, 

 cannot now be definitely ascertained. It is true that Strabo relates that wild horses 

 existed in his time in Spain and the Alps, and Pliny speaks of their existence 

 throughout a great part of the north of Europe. The occurrence of these animals, 

 in the Ardennes is alluded to by Venantius Fortunatus, and in Italy a reference to 

 them is made by Pope Gregory III. in the year 732. There is also evidence that 



