NATURAL HISTORY 



749 



longer than in the ass and other species related 

 to the horse. The native country of the horse 

 seems to have been Central Asia. It became 

 early domesticated in Egypt. It is mentioned 

 throughout the Bible. The people of Thessaly 

 were excellent equestrians, and probably first 

 among the Greeks who broke norses in for 

 service in war; whence probably arose the 

 fable that Thessaly was originally inhabited by 

 centaurs. "Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses 

 for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen," 1014 

 B. C. The Greeks and Romans had some cov- 

 ering to secure their horses' hoofs from injury. 

 In the Ninth Century, horses were only shod in 

 time of fro-t. Shoeing was introduced into 

 England by William I., in 1066. It is believed 

 that the original breed of horses is extinct, and 

 that the half-wild herds existing in many places 

 have descended from animals once in captivity. 

 Thus, when the horse was first introduced by 

 the Spaniards in 1537, at Buenos Ayres, there 

 were no wild hordes in America. But individ- 

 uals escaping ran wild, and, by 1580, their 

 descendants had spread over the continent as 

 far as the Straits of Magellan. Their favorite 

 abode is on the Pampas, where they now exist 

 in untold numbers. But there was found in La 

 IMata a now extinct species of horse, and more 

 K<|iiid;e have been found in the New than in 

 the Old World. The horse may have descended 

 from a striped ancestor, stripes still sometimes 

 remaining, especially in duns and mouse-duns. 

 His present colors are brown, gray, or black, 

 sometimes with roundish pale spots. His age 

 is ascertained by examining first which teeth 

 are developed, and then to what extent they 

 have been worn away by use. They are best 

 tamed by kindness. Like other domestic ani- 

 mals the horse has run into various breeds. 

 The most celebrated is the Arab horse. Great 

 Mtion is given in America to the breeding 

 of horses, and American horses have won races 

 both in England and on the Continent. The 

 fear that the horse would go out of fashion on 

 account of bicycles and automobiles seems 

 unfounded. A similar fear was expressed when 

 the railway took the place of the stage-coach. 

 ll>ciia. A genus of carnivorous animals, 

 lining three species. Two of these, the 

 Spotted Hyena and the Brown Hyena, are en- 

 tirely confined to the African continent; while 

 tin- third species, the Striped Hyena, is found in 

 Northern Africa, and ranges over all the open 

 dia to the foot of the Himalayas, 

 and through Persia and Asia Minor. These 



animal- ha\e a villainous appearance, and are 

 red with co:ir-e bn-tlv hair, short over the 



greater portion of the body, but produced into 

 a mane along the ridire of the neck. The hind 

 legs are shorter than the fore, giving the body 

 a slope from the withers to the haunches. In 



they are somewhat larger than a shej.l 

 dog. The cheek miiM-les are greatly devel- 

 and the large urindin:: teeth have great c<" 

 crowns, giving to them the -mashing 



the thiirh I .on.-- of animals the size of a horse, 

 and enabling them to procure thnr favorite 

 mor-el, the marrow. As carrion-feeders they 

 are useful scavengers. All the species are noc- 

 turnal in their 1. 



Insects. A class of invertebrate animals, 

 in which the body is divided into a variable 

 number of segments, which usually become 

 modified to form three distinct regions, known 

 as the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. 

 The total number of segments never exceeds 



; twenty. Of these, five, and probably six, 



| become completely united to form the head, 

 which carries four pairs of appendages, viz : 

 a pair of antenna*, a pair of mandibles, and two 

 pairs of niaxilhe, the second pair of which 

 together constitute the labium. There is gen- 

 erally a pair of compound eyes on the sides of 

 the head, and sometimes simple eyes, or or< ///. 

 also. The thorax always consists of three seg- 

 ments, which are termed respectively the pro- 



, thorax, the meso-thorax, and the meta-thorax. 

 Kach of these carries a pair of jointed legs, and 



1 the possession of these six legs is characteristic 

 of the whole class of insects ; when wings are 

 present they are attached to the second or third 

 thoracic segments, or to both. The remaining 

 segments constitute the abdomen; they have 

 no appendages. The organs of the mouth in 

 insects are of two principal types, viz: mas- 

 ticatory (beetles, dragon-nies, ants, etc.), and 

 suctorial (butterflies, moths, fleas, gnats, etc.). 

 The digestive apparatus, or alimentary canal, 

 usually consists of an oesophagus, a crop, a giz- 

 zard, a stomach, a small intestine, a large intes- 

 tine, and a rectum, together with organs playing 

 the part of liver and kidneys. There is no 

 definite and regular course of circulation in 

 insects. The heart is represented by a con- 

 tractile tube, situated on the back, and termed 



1 the dorsal vessel. Respiration is effected by 



! means of branching air tubes, or trachea-, which 

 ramify through the entire body, and open on the 

 exterior by lateral apertures, known as stiymata, 

 or spiracles. The nervous system consists of a 

 chain of ganglia placed on the ventral surface, 

 and connected by a series of double cords. 

 The sexes of insects are in different individuals, 

 and most are oviparous. Most insects in the 

 course of their lives pass through a 

 changes, which constitute the metamorphoses, 



; before attaining maturity. 



Jaguar. A carnivorous mammal, belong- 

 ing to the cat family. In si/e it i> rather larger 

 than the leopard, but is more elegant in form 

 and in the beauty of its skin, the ground color 

 of which is pale brownish-yellow, variegated on 

 the upper parts with streaks and irregular 

 obl.-ng spots of black. The top of the back is 

 marked with long uninterrupted stripes, and 

 the sides with rows of regular open marks; 

 on the lliinliN and the legs are full black ^><>t-; 

 the breast and the belly are whitish: the tail 

 is not so long as the body, and i-* spotted irreg- 

 ularly with Mark. This animal is one of the 

 most formidable beasts of prey found in 



ica. bemi: rriuely fierce natu: 



inhabits North and Smil. ndmg 



from the southern regions f the United States, 

 through Mexico, Central \ and Brazil, 



U far KHltb M r.u:iL"l:i\ . \\oo.led bank- of 



rivers are its favorite haunts, and it is said to 



the reedy margins of lakes, seeming 



to have a great predilection for water. It 



preys chiefly upon the water-hog, and is said 



