54 A HISTORY OP THE PERCHEKON HORSE 



may be mentioned the old Flemish breed, but the 

 median depression which distinguished the Flemish 

 horse is reported to be absent in the skull of the 

 Percheron. Further, it is said that there is a pecul- 

 iarity about the head of the Percheron distinct from 

 all other breeds, in that near the half-length of the 

 frontal bone of a typical Percheron there is a small 

 re-entering curve, imparting to the physiognomy a 

 specific aspect. 



From a brochure entitled, ' ' Les Habitants Primi- 

 tifs de la Basse Ome," being a copy of a lecture 

 delivered by Dr. E. T. Hamy before the Association 

 Frangaise pour 1 'Advancement des Science at the 

 Congress of Rouen in 1883, we learn that among the 

 human and animal fossils discovered in an excava- 

 tion made at the bridge of Vaucelles in 1787 was a 

 skull of a horse of remote prehistoric antiquity. This 

 skull was pronounced to be dolichocephalic, and 

 from the indications of the surrounding strata it was 

 established that the fossil dated from the Neolithic 

 or Polished Stone Age. 



Whatever bearing all this may have on the theory 

 of Arab crossing upon the niares of The Perche it 

 gives color to Grautier's contention at Mortagne as 

 to the Percheron 's being a primitive type. 



