218 THE MAMMALIA. 



day Equus caballus never existed in America 

 before its importation. Branco l has lately pub- 

 lished a very remarkable treatise on this subject. 

 He has shown that in the Equus andium which 

 lies buried in the volcanic tufa of Ecuador, and is 

 of the same age as the Diluvial Pampas horses and 

 the species found in the caves of Brazil the eye 

 is placed considerably deeper, whereas in the Equus 

 caballus it has moved considerably farther back. 

 Here, again, it is our grand Goethe a naturalist 

 not nearly often enough quoted, in spite of what 

 an eminent Berlin orator may say who sixty 

 years ago pointed out this ideal character of the 

 horse from an artistico- scientific point of view, and 

 thus anticipated the wearisome labours of palaeon- 

 tology. Goethe's words are 2 : ' In the horse's head 

 of the Elgin Marbles (of the Parthenon), one of the 

 most splendid relics of the grandest period in art, 

 the eyes stand out freely and are placed near the 

 ears, whereby both senses, sight and hearing, seem 

 to act together directly, and the sublime creature 

 is enabled to hear as well as to see what is happen- 

 ing behind it. It looks so majestic and spirituel, 



1 Branco, Diefossilc Saugethierfauna von Punin und Ecua- 

 dor, von Beiss und Branco. Berlin, 1883. 



2 Goethe, Ueber die Anforderungen an naturhistorische 

 Zeichnuncjen (1823). 



