52 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



woods through the foHage of which the sun-rays 

 passed, dappHng the leaves and tree-trunks with 

 spots of light." 



Now if such a change of habit has taken place, 

 nothing would seem more likely than that it should 

 have been accompanied by the loss of scent-glands, 

 which would not be required among animals living 

 in studs ^ on open plains in order to ascertain the 

 whereabouts of their fellows. 



There is, however, yet one more point in favour 

 of the view that the chestnuts represent decadent 

 scent-glands. As already mentioned, these struc- 

 tures exude, when cut, a strong-smelling fluid ; and 

 I am informed that this fluid will not only attract 

 other horses, but that it was formerly employed by 

 burglars and poachers to keep dogs quiet. If this 

 be true, the fluid must almost certainly represent 

 the secretion of an ancestral scent-gland. 



Attention may now be directed to certain features 

 connected with the colouring of the hair in the 

 existing members of the horse family. It has long 

 been noticed that dun-coloured domesticated horses 

 frequently show a tendency to develop dark bars 

 on the legs, and sometimes one or two transverse 

 dark stripes across the shoulder and another along 

 the middle line. And since similar markings occur 



^ Although the word "stud" is now used to denote a stable of 

 horses, it originally denoted (Anglo-Saxon stud^ Slav, stod) a drove of 

 wild horses, for which it is the proper term. See Heyn and Stally- 

 brass, Wa?tderings of Plants a?id Animals., London, 1885, p. 39. 



