BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



the equine race lias been continuous upon the continent from 

 the earliest fossil representatives of this type of animals to 

 those of the present day. But further evidence will be re- 

 quired in order to decide such an important question. Yet 

 we can see no valid reason why this race may not have con- 

 tinued here in the same unbroken series as it appears to have 

 done in the Old World. 



But naturalists are agreed that there is no aboriginal or 

 truly wild breed of horses now known to exist in any part of 

 the globe ; and this is also corroborated by the observations 

 of Oriental travelers, who believe that the wild horses of the 

 East were once domesticated animals. 



Hence we see that the origin of the domestic horse is veiled 

 in great obscurity, and thus becomes one of the most interest- 

 ing problems of Natural History. Thomas Bell, in his His- 

 tory of the British Quadrupeds, claims that the Egyptians 

 were probably the first to break the proud spirit of this noble- 

 animal, and reduce it to obedience and servitude. While 

 others believe that the primitive horse was first domesticated 

 in Asia. 



The horse, in its special details of structure, reverts to that 

 primitive type of three-toed quadrupeds which appeared upon 



rijrure 1. 



the earth among the earliest of the Tertiary mammals, and 

 which have, therefore, been very fitly characterised as the 

 Paleotherna. or ancient wild beasts. These animals walked 



This plate is copied from Owen's Compai*ative Anatomy. 

 The feet of the Horse, Ilipparion and Pahoptcrium. 



