Chap. II. 



THEIR VARIATION. 



53 



which, the projections were between three and four inches in 

 length : other instances have occurred in Spain . 



That there has been much inherited variation in the hrirse 

 cannot be doubted, when we reflect on the number of the 

 breeds existing throughout the world or even wiihin ihe 

 same country, and when we know that they have largely 

 increased in number since the earliest known recordi^.^" Even 

 in so fleeting a character as colour, Hofacker ^^ found that, 

 out of 216 cases in which horses of the same colour were 

 paired, only eleven pairs produced foals of a quite difiierent 

 colour. As Professor Low ^^ has remarked, the English race- 

 horse offers the best possible evidence of inheritance. The 

 pedigree of a race-horse is of more value in judging of its 

 probable success than its appearance : " King Herod " gained 

 in prizes 201,505Z. sterling, and begot 497 winners ; " Eclipse ' 

 begot 334 winners. 



Whether the whole amount of difference between the 

 various breeds has arisen under domestication is doubtful. 

 From the fertility of the most distinct breeds ^^ when crossed, 

 naturalists have generally looked at all the breeds as having 

 descended from a single species. Few will agree with 

 Colonel H. Smith, who believes that they have descended 

 from no less than five primitive and differently coloured 

 stocks.^* But as several species and varieties of the horse 

 existed ^^ during the later tertiary periods, and as Eiitimeyer 

 found differences in the size and form of the skull in the 

 earliest known domesticated horses,^^ we ought not to feel 

 sure that all our breeds are descended from a single siaecies. 



'° Godron, ' De I'Espfece,' torn. i. 

 p. 378. 



" ' Ueber die Eigenschaften,' &c., 

 1828, s. 10. 



'^ ' Domesticated Animals of thft 

 British Islands, pp. 527, 532. In all 

 the veterinary treatises and papers 

 which I have read, the writers insist 

 iu the strongest terms on the inherit- 

 ance by the horse of all good and bad 

 tendencies and qualities. Perhaps the 

 principle of inheritance is not really 

 stronger in the horse than in any other 

 animal; but, from its value, the 



tendency has been more carefully 

 observed. 



'^ Andrew Knight crossed breeds so 

 different in size as a dray-horse and 

 Norwegian pony : see A. Walker on 

 'Intermarriage,' 1838, p. 205. 



'* ' Nat. Library, Horses,' vol. xii. 

 p. 208. 



'^ Gervais, ' Hist. Nat Mamm.,' 

 torn. ii. p. 143. Owen, ' British Fossil 

 Mammals,' p. 383. 



"^ ' Kenntniss der fossilen Pferde,' 

 1863, s. 131. 



