8 THE ANCESTORS [CH. 



(termed castor or chestnut) on the inner side of the fore-leg 

 above the carpus; the tail is furnished with long hair, either 

 at the end or throughout its whole length. The lateral digits 

 sometimes survive to a considerable extent, as was apparently 

 the case with Julius Caesar's favourite charger 1 . 



Fossil remains of horses are found abundantly in deposits of 

 the most recent geological age in almost every part of America, 

 from Escholtz Bay to Patagonia. According to Sir C. Lyell 2 

 remains of no less than twelve species referred to seven genera 

 have been discovered in the Pliocene and Pleistocene formations 

 of that country. Recent investigations show that North America 

 in pre-glacial times possessed at least nine perfectly distinct 

 wild species of Equidae. These varied much in size ; thus 

 Equus complicatus of the Southern and middle Western States 

 and E. occidentalis of California were as large as small cart- 

 horses, E. tau of Mexico was extremely small, whilst others, 

 such as E. fraternis of the South-eastern States, were inter- 

 mediate. "Some of the American pre-glacial Equidae were 

 characterised by very large heads and short, strong limbs, some 

 by small heads and slender limbs ; and though the majority 

 conformed to the true horse type, two or three were constructed 

 on the lines of asses and zebras 3 ." Yet no horses, either wild or 

 domesticated, existed in any part of America at the time of the 

 Spanish conquest, which is all the more astonishing having 

 regard to the very favourable conditions of soil and climate 

 as demonstrated by the thousands of horses now ranging the 

 Pampas of South America, all descended from seven stallions 

 and five mares introduced by the Spaniards 4 , whilst the 

 mustangs of Texas, sprung from a like small beginning, prove 

 that North America was no less suited to be the nurse of horses. 



Dr Munro 5 has ingeniously suggested that a satisfactory 



1 Pliny, N. H. vm. 42. 64. 



2 Principles of Geology, Vol. n. p. 340 (llth ed.). 



3 J. C. Ewart, "The Multiple Origin of Horses and Ponies," Transactions of 

 Highland Society, 1904, p. 2. 



4 Azara, Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and the River 

 La Plata (Eng. trans.), pp. 4 5. 



6 " On the Prehistoric Horses of Europe and their supposed domestication in 

 Palaeolithic Times," Archaeological Journal, Vol. LIX. pp. 112-3. 



