CHAPTER V. 



THE REMNANT TEETH. 



Usually regarded as Phenomena. The Xame. Traced to Fossil 

 Horses, in which (in the Pliocene Period) they u ceased to 

 be Functionally Developed." Nature's Metamorphoses. " The 

 Agencies which are at work in Modeling Animal and Vegeta- 

 ble Forms." "Why Remnant Teeth are often, as it were, Pre- 

 maturely Lost Fossil Horses and a Fossil Toothed-Bird. 



THE Remnant or so-called wolf- teeth are one of 

 the most interesting features of the horse's dental 

 system. They are usually regarded as phenomena, 

 but their line of descent is as direct as that of the 

 first premolars (grinders), which have, as it were, 

 almost absorbed them, and have increased in bulk 

 nearly in proportion to the decrease in bulk of the 

 Remnant teeth. 



As the word wolf is another name for that which 

 is hurtful or destructive, and as these teeth as well 

 as supernumerary teeth, with which, however, they 

 should never be confounded, sometimes do injury, 

 the generic name, wolf-teeth, is not a bad one. But 

 since these particular teeth are hereditary, being be- 

 yond doubt the remains of what were once function- 

 ally developed teeth, they require a specific name. I 

 have therefore adopted the name REMNANT TEETH. 



In the evolution of the horse from an animal of 

 about the size of a fox to its present proportions, 

 radical physical changes, of the teeth as well as other 

 organs, were necessary. That these changes were in 

 harmony with the animal's bodily requirements and 

 its usefulness to man, is all the better. Small, five- 



