Pe I PE ee ee te 
Pr pares tad Be: 
APPENDIX. 
Art. LXII. Sag ort Horses, ine and Extinct; by 
Professor O. C. M 
qualities depend. ‘The nearest living allies of the horse are the 
ass and the zebra, and they possess the same pedal pia os 
In addition to each main digit of the ordinary horse, how- 
ever, the anatomist finds pie beneath the skin two Passau 
metapodial “splint bones, ich are evidently the remnants 
- two other toes, originall y poids by the ancestors of the 
0 au 
which are oe rte shorter than the main foot. As 
these small hooflets ar ly regarded as a serious detriment 
to the animal, vari are © generally removed from the colt soon 
after birth, but in such cases the enlarged splint bones not 
unfrequently rion’ - the Sadat their former existence. 
rous cases of extra digits in the horse have been recorded, 
and in sensi all of ie a single lateral hooflet was present on 
one of the fore legs. In most instances the occurrence was noted 
chiefly on account of its rarity, and no record was made of the 
exact position of the extra hoofs with reference to os main 
digit, nor of the significance of these useless apy 
Since the attention of the writer was called to the ratiaee a 
w years since, he has ascertained that these supernumerary 
digits are much more common in the horse than has been 
; supposed, and in many cases they appear to indicate a reversion 
early ancestral type. 
to an ear. 
