10 THE HORSE FAMILY. 



the skull of an English Horse (N.H. 45) presented by 

 Mr, Hanbury Carlile, showing rudiments of a pair of horns on 

 the forehead. Of three other specimens of the same type, one is 

 the frontal region of the skull of an ordinary English Horse 

 (N.H. 44) showing the pair of rudimentary horns in precisely the 

 same position as in the first specimen, but of somewhat larger 

 size. The other two are models of the foreheads of Thorough- 

 breds (]N.H. 46, 47), each showing a pair of similar horns, 

 situated as in the preceding specimens. These are important as 

 showing that the skin extends uniformly over the horn-Hke 

 processes, without any trace of a dermal horn ; the same condition 

 being observable in the other two examples. The significance of 

 these horn-like growths is at present inexplicable, seeing that 

 none of the ancestral Horses, or even of the collateral branches of 

 the Horse-stock, were horned animals. This makes it tlie more 

 difficult to understand why the projections in all the four 

 specimens above referred to should be so similar in form and 

 position. 



« r The next abnormalities to be mentioned are connected 



with the foot-bones of Shire Horses, as represented in 

 the feet of "Blaisdon Conqueror,^'' formerly owned by 

 Mr. Peter Stubs and of two other Horses of the same breed 

 presented respectively by Lord Wantage and Lady Wantage. In 

 the skeleton of " Prince Henry ,^^ presented by Lady Wantage, 

 only the bones of the limbs on the left side (N.H. 38) have been 

 preserved ; but in both the front and hind cannon-bones (fig. 7) 

 of that side the two lateral splint-bones (the metapodials of 

 anatomists) are unusually large and stout. In place of terminating, 

 as in many ordinary Horses, about two-thirds down the shaft of 

 the cannon-bone, or even less, in thin narrow slips, they extend 

 fully four-fifths the length of the latter, where they end in large 

 triangular processes inclined markedly outwards. Although these 

 terminal projections arc immovably welded to the splint-bones, 

 their structure is such as to indicate that they represent distinct 

 elements, consisting of two or three pieces each ; and there can be 

 no doubt that they really correspond to the lateral toe-bones 

 (plialanges) of the extinct Hipparion. In other words. Lady 

 Wantage's Shire may be said to be a veritable three- toed Horse, 



