244 
A REGIMENTAL PET, 
inconceivable how anybody can say that an 
animal with the huge spreading ears of that 
species can in any way resemble a horse, 
which has the narrowest and most pointed 
ears and the smallest head of any member 
Animal 
Life 
of the family. Moreover, 
Grévy’s zebra, In common 
with all the other striped 
species and the asses, differs 
from the horse not only in 
the narrowness of all its 
hoofs, but also in the cir- 
cumstance that the front 
pair are not broader than 
the hind ones. 
“But (puttme aside the 
difficulty with regard to the 
chestnuts) this is by no 
means all. It is admitted 
by Prof. Ridgeway that 
the ordinary horses of 
Europe are descended from 
the prehistoric race, which 
we know from the afore- 
said drawings was an un- 
striped animal, agreeing in 
all essential respects with 
an ordinary badly bred 
And yet we are told that the 
thoroughbred traces its descent to a species 
closely allied to the Somah zebra, with its 
striped hide, broad ears, and narrow hoofs! 
If such were really the case, could the barb 
by any possibility have 
acquired its close general 
resemblance to the ordinary 
under-bred horse ? 
“The new theory is so 
improbable and so contrary 
to all the known facts 
that, had it not been 
proposed by a writer with 
the title of Professor, and 
appeared in a journal of 
high scientific repute, it 
would, I submit, have been 
unworthy of notice. As 
if is, unless contradicted, 
it is only too likely to 
obtain credence among 
those unable to judge it 
on its merits. 
‘One other point in Prof. 
Ridgeway’s article demands 
brief mention. It is there 
stated that the prehistoric 
horse. 
