GENERAL REMARKS. 



683 



life of the foetus, but become united before birth. As no 

 normal ancestor of man had more than five digits on a 

 hand or foot, we are justified in regarding a sixth finger 

 or toe as a monstrosity. The foregoing considerations 

 give us reasonable cause for assuming that the horse, 

 like other animals, is a product of evolution, and not 

 of special creation. 



For our knowledge of equine evolution, we are chiefly 



Fig. 636. — Front view 

 of off fore foot of 

 horse, with pedal and 

 pastern bones split, 

 and a hoof on each 

 half of the pedal bone 

 {.-Jfti:/- Boas). 



PholO by'i [J. D0NSTAN. 



Fig. 637. — Case of dichotomy in the fore 

 feet of an ox. 



indebted to the late Professor Marsh of Yale College and 

 Professor Osborn of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, who have discovered numerous species of equine 

 fossils in America, of which country the ancestors of pre- 

 sent equine varieties appear to have been natives. In 

 fact, both North and South America were largely inhabited 

 by these animals. In other parts of the world, horse- 

 like forms were evolved, but none of them can be reckoned 

 amongst the ancestors of the horse. The Hipparion gracile 



