DUN HORSES. 17 



to the Arab*. If this be admitted the Dun Pony should be 

 called Equus caballus typicus. 



These Ponies are evidently related to the Wild Mongolian 

 Horse, but have a fuller development of the mane and tail, which 

 are wholly black, although specimens may occasionally be seen 

 in England in which the hairs on the root of the tail are shorter 

 than usual. In some cases there is a dark stripe down the back 

 and traces of barring on the legs. The facial portion of the head 

 is longer, and the hoofs are relatively larger than in the Celtic 

 Pony. 



This breed may be regarded as probably derived from the 

 Wild Mongolian Horse, and likewise as the main ancestral stock 

 of the ordinary domesticated Horses of North-western Europe. 

 In the skulls of ordinary domesticated Horses the cheek-teeth are 

 both absolutely and proportionately, much smaller than in the 

 Wild Horse. When Arab blood is presumably absent, there is 

 no trace of a distinct impression in front of the socket for the 

 eye; and in some instances the facial portion of the skull is not 

 markedly bent down on the basal axis. This bending-down of 

 the face on the line of the basal axis may, however, occur in 

 domesticated Horses of all breeds. Skulls exhibiting different 

 degrees of development of this feature are shown in the case in 

 the central arch of the north hall. One of these skulls was 

 obtained from the Roman Fort at Newstead near Melrose, where 

 specimens exhibiting various degrees of bending-down of the 

 face were found (see J. C. Evvart, Trans. Royal Society Edinburgh, 

 vol. xlv, 1907). 



The relatively smaller head and still smaller cheek-teeth, the 

 shorter ears, the presence of a fore-lock, the larger and pendent 

 mane, the more fully haired tail, and the wider hoofs which 

 distinguish the ordinary Horses of Western Europe from the 

 Wild Horse may be regarded in all probability as due, at any 

 rate to a great extent, to the effects of domestication, although 

 there is also the possibility that they may in some degree be due 



* See Stejneger, op. cit. p. 470, DOte. Osborn, on the other hand (Bull.Atne?: 

 Mus. vol. xxiii, p. 262, 1907), adopts the view here advocated, and uses the 

 name E. africanus, Sanson for the Arab : this name is, however, preoccupied 

 by E. asinus africanus of Fitzinger, 



C 



