56 



THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. 



species, together with the extinct species 

 which have lived during Quaternary times. 

 The tiger- horses of Africa cannot have 

 contributed to the formation of the domestic 

 breeds. Stripes and lines are too rare in 

 these latter for us to be able to consider them 

 as reversions to an original type of colouring. 



One fact dominates the whole problem, at 

 least so far as Europe is concerned. Through- 

 out the Quaternary period the whole of our 

 continent was inhabited by a race of small 

 wild horses which were eagerly hunted in the 

 Stone Age. Whole graveyards of these ani- 

 mals slaughtered for food have been found, 



Fig. 152. — The Tarpan [Eguus Tarpan) 



ior example, at Solutre, near Macon (Saone- 

 et- Loire). While previously an object of 

 eager pursuit this small animal was probably 

 domesticated at the time when polished stone 

 implements were used (the Neolithic Age), 

 when agriculture was introduced. It is 

 accordingly highly probable that the small 

 horses of Norway, the Shetland ponies, and 

 those of Corsica and Sardinia, are the more 

 or less modified descendants of this prehistoric 

 small and rather thick-headed horse. 



But there were also horses of larger size 

 during Quaternary times. As regards Amer- 

 ica this is incontestable. The horse with 

 curved incisors (E. curvidens), which roamed 

 over the whole of America during Quaternary 



times, was of about the size of a pretty tall 

 domesticated horse. But this American 

 species has left no descendants. At the time 

 of the discovery of America there were no 

 horses in the New World. 



The large domestic horse was probably in- 

 troduced into Europe along with the use of 

 metals. It came from some of the countries 

 bordering on the Mediterranean, perhaps from 

 India, where it had long been domesticated. 

 But we do not know with certainty any 

 Quaternary predecessor. Can the domestic 

 horse be derived from the Tibetan wild ass? 

 That is very doubtful. 



If we turn our attention to the horses that 

 have again become wild in the steppes of 



