Masterpieces of Science 



truly say, that so far as my knowledge extends, 

 there is no collection from any one region and 

 series of strata comparable, for extent, or for the 

 care with which the remains have been got to- 

 gether, or for their scientific importance, to the 

 series of fossils which he has deposited there. 

 This vast collection has yielded 'evidence bearing 

 upon the question of the pedigree of the horse of 

 the most striking character. It tends to show 

 that we must look to America, rather than to 

 Europe, for the original seat of the equine series; 

 and that the archaic forms and successive modifi- 

 cations of the horse's ancestry are far better pre- 

 served here than in Europe. 



Professor Marsh's kindness has enabled me 

 to put before you a diagram, every figure of 

 which is an actual representation of some speci- 

 men which is to be seen at Yale at this present 

 time (Fig. 9). 



The succession of forms which he has brought 

 together carries us from the top to the bottom 

 of the Tertiaries. Firstly, there is the true horse. 

 Next we have the American Pliocene form of 

 the horse (Pliohippus) ; in the conformation of 

 its limbs its presents some very slight deviations 

 from the ordinary horse, and the crowns of the 

 grinding teeth are shorter. Then comes the 

 Protohippus, which represents the European 

 Hipparion, having one large digit and two small 

 ones on each foot, and the general characters of 

 the fore-arm and leg to which I have referred. 

 But it is more valuable than the European Hip- 

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