184 FERAL HORSES. 



and along with an asinine streak on the back, in 

 the purer breeds also marked with cross bars on 

 the joints, sometimes on the shoulder : the light 

 limbed races provided naturally with ewe necks, 

 and the heavy with the cervical vertebrae more 

 straight or arched : the raw-boned, large, broad- 

 footed variety located in its own damp and wooded 

 plains, and the small hardy cylindrical-footed ponies 

 invariably belonging to rocky mountains : all these 

 characters may be trivial, they may be called acci- 

 dental, or the results of the usual explanations, 

 food and climate, yet several evidently lie deeper 

 in the nature of animal organization. Their aggre- 

 gate importance is supported by the history of the 

 ancient races, and appears adequate to confirm 

 the presumption we contend for and have already 

 drawn, when we compared the aboriginal races of 

 the northern hemisphere with the striped group of 

 the southern, both having probably an aberrant spe- 

 cies on each side. 



We mean not, however, to infer that all large 

 horses belong to low regions, or all the small to 

 rocky sites ; numerous circumstances no doubt have 

 disturbed the conditions of existence, and climate, 

 food, and the fostering care of man, have had their 

 legitimate influence. Albinism, though it affects 

 horses like other animals, must not be confounded 

 with natural greys, where round dappled marks 

 show a particular tendency unconnected with a defi- 

 ciency of colouring matter in the hair, and melanism 

 is not perceptibly accidental. The main facts are 





