EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE AND THE ELEPHANT 423 



and evidently characteristic, and -suggest that even in 

 those remote times the straight-faced and "Roman- 

 nosed" types were perfectly distinct. This idea is also 

 supported by the skulls of various extinct horses which 

 have been found in Europe. How the horse first came 

 to be domesticated, we do not know, but some of the 

 prehistoric drawings appear to indicate its use as a pack 

 animal. Some adventurous individual, who had per- 

 haps employed a horse in this manner, one day con- 

 ceived the idea that it might also carry him, and leaped 

 astride. The astonishment of his fellows at this feat 

 appears to be preserved in ancient legends of a being 

 half horse and half man. 



8. In many ways opposite to the Przewalski horse is The Celtic 

 the Celtic pony, or Equus celticus. This small animal, pony 

 now known especially^ from Iceland, exists only in a 

 state of domestication, but it has marked peculiarities. 

 In color it is similar to the Przewalski horse, but the 

 mane is long and consists of a central and a lateral por- 

 tion. The tail, instead of being short-haired at the base, 

 is there covered by a great tuft. Professor J. C. Ewart 

 of Edinburgh, who first clearly distinguished the Celtic 

 pony, observed that the bunch of hair at the root of the 

 tail served to protect that region from rain and snow. 

 In a storm, while other horses made for shelter, the Cel- 

 tic ponies simply turned their hind quarters to the blast 

 and went on feeding unconcernedly. Were they not 

 able to do this, they would scarcely be able to prosper in 

 the damp and stormy regions which they inhabit. 



On the legs of horses may be seen certain callosities or 

 pads, the upper ones being called "chestnuts," the 

 lower, "ergots." The latter seem to represent rudi- 

 ments of the hind foot pad ; but the former, on the inner 

 side of the leg, must apparently be explained in some 



