IMMEDIATE ANCESTORS OF THE HORSE. 335 



made on pieces of bone and horn by the cave men of Southern 

 France, it would seem that the horse of Western Europe, say, 

 ten thousand years ago, was a small, rough, thick-set animal, 

 rather like the Mongolian pony. The instinct this and other 

 horses have of scraping away with their fore feet, snow when 

 it covers the ground, so as to get at the underlying grass, would, 

 as Darwin suggests, point to the probability that our horses 

 originally came from a country in which there were severe 

 winters. It would be interesting to know if this instinct, 

 which no doubt is possessed by the kiang, is retained by the 

 onager, the Abyssinian wild ass, and the eastern horse. The 

 horses of the present day may be divided into two, more or 

 less, distinct types; the one, thick-set and ** coarse," like 

 the Mongolian pony ; the other of comparatively slight build 

 and smart appearance, like the Arab or Indian pony {see 

 PI. 34). I would refer the aboriginal horses of Western 

 Europe and the various cart strains to the first division. Our 

 saddle horses and trappers are, as we all know, a judicious blend 

 of English and Eastern blood. The differences which exist 

 among the various breeds of horses in the world, are evi- 

 dently due to the effects of climate, selection, and stable 

 management. 



From the remarks made on page 306, with respect to the 

 presence of thickened skin in the horse and ass, we might 

 conclude that these two animals are descended from a thick- 

 skinned ancestor, akin perhaps to the rhinoceros, whose foot 

 {see Fig. 197) shows a marked tendency to become one-toed. 

 It is almost needless to say that the rifle of the sportsman 

 will, in the near future, put a summary stop to this process of 

 evolution in the case of this horned pachyderm. The fact of 

 the ass possessing a larger amount of thick skin than the 



