326 



Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



by a comparison of the short aud the loug spines whicli I have endeavoured 

 to show diagramatically in fig. 6. It will be evident that the short, straight 

 neck of the Arab determines the carriage of the head at an obtuse angle with 

 the neck. It will be manifest filso that the shortness of the spine gives 

 compactness to the body generally, and brings the pelvis closer to the ribs. 

 It will be evident, finally, that the straight spine determines the high 

 carriage of the tail and the long, straight quarters, the pelvis necessarily 

 following the line of the straight spine. On the other hand, it will be seen 

 that with the long spine there are vertical curvatures which, although they 

 are deformities, may be regarded as rectifying. Wlien any one of these is 

 absent — as is sometimes the case — the defect of the long spine is even more 

 apparent. 



Viiiif'es^, 



Now, it is said that the Arab stamps his stock. I find tliat what he 

 stamps especially is the short spine. It is for this reason, principally, that 

 all the progeny of the first cross resemble him. It is probable that the short 

 liead aud spine is the primitive type. The character of the skull of a horse 

 found in the Pleistocene formation in the valley of the Nerbada, of which 

 a cast is in the Irish National Museum, resembles that of the horses in the 

 Greek sculptures and of the Arab horses of the present day. It is only when 

 we get away from the influence of the eastern horse, that we find the loug 

 head aud the long spine. 



Another important variation in the skeleton of the horse is to be 



