Chap.IL HORSES : THEIR VARIATION. 49 



CHAPTEE II. 



HOESES AND ASSES. 



HORSE. — DIFFERENCES IN THE BEEEDS — INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF — DIRECT 

 EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE — CAN WITHSTAND MUCH COLD — BREEDS 

 MUCH MODIFIED BY SELECTION — COLOURS OF THE HORSE — DAPPLING — DARK 

 STRIPES ON THE SPINE, LEGS, SHOULDERS, AND FOREHEAD — DUN-COLOURED HORSES 

 MOST FREQUENTLY STRIPED — STRIPES PROBABLY DUE TO REVERSION TO THE 

 PRIMITIVE STATE OF THE HORSE. 

 ASSES.— BREEDS OF — COLOUR OF — LEG- AND SHOULDER- STRIPES SHOULDER- 

 STRIPES SOMETIMES ABSENT, SOMETIMES FORKED. 



The history of the Horse is lost in antiquity. Eemains of this 

 animal in a domesticated condition have been found in 

 the Swiss lake-dwellings, belonging to the latter part of the 

 Stone period. 1 At the present time the number of breeds 

 is great, as may be seen by consulting any treatise on the 

 Horse. 2 Looking only to the native ponies of Great Britain, those 

 of the Shetland Isles, Wales, the New Forest, and Devonshire 

 are distinguishable ; and so it is with each separate island in 

 the great Malay archipelago. 3 Some of the breeds present 

 great differences in size, shape of ears, length of mane, propor- 

 tions of the body, form of the withers and hind quarters, and 

 especially in the head. Compare the race-horse, dray-horse, 

 and a Shetland pony in size, configuration, and disposition; and 

 see how much greater the difference is than between the six 

 or seven other living species of the genus Equus. 



18ef ^122 er ' FaUna ^ PfaMbauten '' are man y different breeds, every island 



2 LI v«^«** a. -r-r having at least one peculiar to it." 



renm n7r W %*" : J " W TbuS in Sumatra there are a * ^ast two 



Ma tin 'Hi W ^'l™'* ^ Q L ' breeds ' in Acbia and **nbam one; 



Ham Srntth r M 6 + T': 1845:C01 - in Java Several breeds > <™ * Bali 



Itas itl vl t% Liblary ' L ° mboc ' Sumbawa ^ne of the best 



D e Natuip^ ^ '' ^ ! 6ith ' breeds )' Tambora ' B U Gnnung-api, 



^Die Natmgesch. Haussaugethiere/ Celebes, Sumba, and Philippines. Other 



■Crawford. Rescript Diet of ^ ^ ^ed by Zollinger in the 

 Ti U ]k.T.T.l., M h'iM4t Jo m, Journal of the Indian Archipelago,' 



Indian Islands, 1856, p. 153. " There vol. v. p 343 & c 



VOL. I. 



E 



