CHAPTER VIII 



iThe Story of the Horse 



Ever since men have been familiar with the idea 

 of evolution there has been a temptation on the part 

 of the zoologist to draw up pedigrees expressing the 

 relationship between the various groups of the animal 

 kingdom. The impulse is natural, and, if the result- 

 ing tables are not accepted with too much confidence, 

 the result is not undesirable. The truth of the matter 

 is that all of these pedigrees are more or less hypo- 

 thetical. They simply show what connection seems 

 most likely. In all of them are spaces filled with 

 doubtful names. Each addition to our acfjuaintance 

 with the past history of animals necessitates revision 

 of our tables. The student of fossils, trying to re- 

 build in imagination the world of the past, finds him- 

 self often strangely unable to link these animals to- 

 gether. The result is that the more we know of 

 fossils, the more distrustful we become of the easy 

 connections we have been making between groups. 

 Accordingly we are more than commonly pleased 



when we find the clear indication of a genuine pedi- 



220 



