232 THE TRUNK. 



the last rib, the greater is the successive diminution of 

 the length of the false ribs from front to rear. Hence, 

 when the last rib is relatively short, the angle which the 

 lower line of the chest makes with the ground, will 

 almost always be greater (Figs. 318 and 319), than when 

 the horse is well ribbed up, like Ormonde (Frontispiece). 

 Here, the animal's "condition" should of course be taken 

 into account. When a horse is in hard condition (Figs. 

 275, 324, and 427), the rear end of this line curves more 

 or less upwards; but in fat horses (Figs. 11 and 320) 

 and in mares in foal (Fig. 321), the abdomen, at a point 

 midway between the elbow and stifle, is often nearer 

 the ground than the "girth place." In the weight- 

 carrying hunter, the front half of this line should be 

 nearly parallel to the ground (Fig. 322). In this con- 

 nection, it is interesting to compare the conformation 

 of the greyhound (Fig. 8) with that of the foxhound 

 (Fig. 323), the former being noted for his speed ; the 

 latter, for his endurance. The photograph of Irish Lassie 

 (Fig. 324) was taken immediately after she had accom- 

 plished her remarkable feat of carrying her young French 

 owner, M. Cottu, from Vienna to Paris, a distance of 785 

 miles, in 12 days and 14 hours. The fatigue she went 

 through gave no undue upward slope to the lower line 

 of her chest, although she was very light in condition, as 

 we may see by the way her ribs appear in the photograph. 

 We may be quite certain that she would not have returned 

 " fit and well," had she been of the " herring-gutted " type, 

 supposing that she had not died on the way. The subject 

 in question is well illustrated by Figs. 325 and 326, the 

 photographs of which I took in South Africa in 1901. 

 During the war, the horse in Fig. 325 went through a 

 great deal of hardship without losing condition ; but the 

 one in Fig. 326, though well bred and fast at first, proved 

 useless from lack of endurance. Horses of the foxhound 

 type, like those in Figs. 322, 324 and 325, can carry 

 plenty of animal fuel, and consequently fulfil the con- 



