Notes and 
“The blood-horse, or thoroughbred, on the 
other hand, is believed to be the descendant 
of breeds introduced into Europe from the 
East, not improbably by way of Greece and 
Italy. This, however, by no means implies 
that it may not also have been derived from 
a prehistoric horse; being the result of 
a domestication of a species which may 
have taken place in Asia at a much earlier 
date than in Europe. 
“The above, as already said, are the 
almost universally accepted ideas as to the 
ovigin of ‘cold-blooded’ and ‘blood’ horses. 
In a recent issue of 
the ‘Proceedings’ of 
the Cambridge Philo- 
sophical Society, Prof. 
Ridgeway has, however, 
propounded a _ theory 
as to the ancestry of 
the thoroughbred 
which, to put it mildly, 
is decidedly startling. 
Arguing in the first 
place, from certain 
premises which need 
not be discussed here, 
that the thoroughbred 
could not have been 
evolved in Arabia or 
any other part of Asia, 
the Professor comes to 
the conclusion that 
its real home was 
North Africa. There 
are, however (at any 
rate at the present 
Comments 243 
day), no wild horses (sensw strictw) in that 
or any part of Africa; and it is accordingly 
suggested that the barb was derived either 
from Grévy’s zebra (Hquus grevyt) of North- 
Hast Africa, or, as is more likely, from 
some very Closely allied species now ex- 
tinct, which, like Przeyalski’s horse, may 
have had callosities on the hind 
as on the front limbs. 
as well 
“This theory, it 1s urged, receives support 
from the occurrence of striping like that 
of Grevy’s zebra in some of Prof. Ewart’s 
hybrids. 
And from the circumstance 
that ‘authorities like 
Captain Hayes have 
pointed out the great 
similarity in form 
between Burchell’s and 
the Somaliland zebras 
to a well-bred horse, 
v.e., a horse that has 
barb blood in him.’ 
“With regard to the 
first argument, I have 
nothing to say ;—it 
may be taken for 
what it 1S worth. 
As to the second, 
Burchell’s zebra is 
essentially a quagga, 
and how much resem- 
blance there is between 
the latter and a horse 
I will leave my 
readers to decide. 
With regard to 
Grévy’s zebra, it seems 
also 
SNAKE, 
