HABITS AND HAIR OF UNGULATES 75 



a paper on this subject many years ago before a distinguished 

 company of veterinary surgeons, and though they had glanced at 

 these patterns in a passing way, as peculiarities, no real knowledge 

 of them nor attempt to understand them was shown by this body 

 of experts. They were too " practical " for this view of things. 

 I may remark here that many of the most vocal and active among 

 us, and especially the Germans, have been overmuch disposed to 

 study science ad hoc, for its commercial and military value, though 

 here, as elsewhere one must be tolerant and each follow his own 

 taste, seeking light, more light. One must live and let live. 



The horse does his work coram publico in every street of 

 every town, in fields, roads and race-courses, and displays on his 

 hairy coat some graceful patterns "which are at the same time 

 subjects for scientific inquiry, and brands of his long servitude to 

 man. I have examined many thousands of horses in some twenty 

 years with never failing interest. Belonging to the large family 

 of Equidse, including asses, zebras and quaggas, he is the most 

 highly -developed of them all. His habits first, and then the most 

 notable of his hair-patterns must now be considered. 



Some Habits of the Horse. 



He has few habits which bear on the present subject, and of 

 these his active habits of locomotion are far the most important. 

 He has his share of passive habits, for he stands many hours a 

 day, and often sleeps standing, and he does his share in lying down, 

 though Mr. Roger Pocock says he takes no more than four hours' 

 sleep in this attitude. His rule in lying down is to " lie anyhow,'" 

 if one may so describe it, and thus his two passive attitudes of 

 standing and lying, have little or no bearing on the questions before 

 us. His glory is in his gallop, canter, trot and walk. His business 

 is indeed a going concern in more than one sense, perhaps in three. 

 The world is moving fast in its old age, and some men are calculating 

 how long it may take for him to become as nearly extinct as the 

 quagga. 



With the clue given to this inquiry in Chapter VI. we need 

 have little difficulty in tracing the manner in which his loco- 

 motive life, ancestral and personal., is engraved on his hairy coat. 

 We shall bear in mind the primitive direction of his hair, hair-streams, 

 lines of least resistance, and the powerful forces of underlying 

 traction of muscles, opposed or divergent. 



It is, of course, most convenient to examine a specimen with 

 a fine, short coat rather than one with its wild and more shaggy 

 hair remaining. 



