PACHYDKKMATA. IGl 



separated at two years; at three they are broken in, and it is not 

 until they are four that they arc rode, at which time also they can 

 propagate without injury to themselves. The period of gestation is 

 eleven months. 



A Horse's age is known by the incisors (a). Themilk teeth begin 

 to grow about fifteen days after the colt is foaled ; at two years and 

 a half the middle ones are replaced; at three and a lialf the two 

 following ones ; at four and a half the outermost or the corners. All 

 these teeth, with an originally indented crown, gradually lose that 

 mark by detrition. When seven or eight years old they are entirely 

 effaced, and the Horse is no longer marked. 



The lower canines are produced at three years and a half, the 

 upper ones at four ; they remain pointed till six ; at ten they begin 

 to peel off. 



The life of the Horse seldom extends beyond thirty years. 



Every one knows how much this animal varies in size and colour. 

 The principal races even exhibit sensible differences in the form of 

 the head, in their proportion, and in their fitness for the various uses 

 to which they are applied. 



The most beautiful and swift is the Arab, which has been instru- 

 mental in improving the Spanish race, and along with the latter has 

 contributed to form the English ; the largest and strongest are from 

 the coasts of the North sea; the smallest from the north of Sweden 

 and Corsica. Wild Horses have a large head, frizzled hair, and un- 

 graceful proportions. 



E. hemionus, Pall., Schreb. (The Dzigguetai). A species which, 

 as to its proportions, is intermediate between the Horse and the Ass, 

 and lives in troops in the sandy deserts of central Asia. It is of an 

 Isabella or light bay colour, with a black mane, and a dorsal line of 

 the same colour ; the tail is terminated by a black tuft. It is pro- 

 bably the Wild IVIule of the ancients. 



E. asinus, L. ; Buff. IV. xi. (The Ass). Known by its long 

 ears, the tuft which terminates the tail, and the black cross on the 

 shoulders, which is the first indication of the stripes that distinguish 

 the following species. Originally from the great deserts of central 

 Asia, it is still to be found there in a wild state, and in innumerable 

 troops, ranging from north to south according to the season ; hence 

 it thrives but poorly in the more northern climates. Every one is 

 acquainted with its patience, sobriety, robust temperament, and the 

 services it renders to the peasantry. The hoarseness of its voice, 

 or bray, depends upon two small peculiar cavities situated at the bot- 

 tom of the larynx. 



E. zebra, L. ; Buff. XII. i. (The Zebra). Nearly the same form 

 as the Ass ; the whole animal being perfectly regularly marked with 

 black and white transverse stripes : it is originally from the whole 



^^ (rt) These we call nippers in England; the term being certainly more in ac- 

 cordance with the browsing action of the animal, than the name of incisors. A plate 

 of the state of these teeth in different stages, will be found amongst the illustrations 

 to the present volume. — Eng. Ed. 



VOL. I. N 



