right on the ground. If you can do anything for us please 

 telegraph Mr. Alfred A. Reade, Jr., at Providence, K. I., and 

 write me so that I ran meet your man in Providence. Let him 

 report at J. H. Eddy's, Ho. 587 exchange street. 



After looking the place over (and as there are no works on 

 the stream except a small cotton mill) we find the water free 

 from all the refuse and poisonous matter usually thrown into 

 our streams. We. can take tbem from here to the Blackstone, 

 Pawtuket and Pawcatuck Kivers. 



Last week there were two salmon caught at Westerly in the 

 traps ; one weighed twelve and a half and the other twenty- 

 five pounds. 



On Saturday I visited Seconnet Point, where the Church 

 Bros, and others fish for scup. They have taken one salmon 

 weighing four and a half pounds, and but very few scup. 



Our last Legislature passed a law that all the traps, pounds 

 and nets, of all'dcscriptions, should be taken up on Saturday 

 morning at sunrise and remain up until Monday morning at 

 sunrise, North of a line from Seconnet Point to south pier at 

 Narraugansett Pier. The fishermen are observing the law. 

 Hoping to hear from you in relation to hatching shad, 1 am, 

 your humble servant, 



(Signed) John H. Baedbn (1 F C.,jE. I. 



House of Representatives, 1 



Washington, D. O, May 23, 1879. | 

 Ps"- Spencer F. Baird : 



„ Dear Sir— thinking probably the inclosed extract, from 

 one of our East Tennessee papers, might be of interest to you 

 take the Liberty of sending it. Very truly, 



(Signed) James C. Sattntjebs. 



"Some four years ago the United States Fish Commission 

 planted 80,000 young shad in the Holston River above Knox- 

 ville. The theory was that these little fellows would follow 

 the stream to salt water in the Gulf of Mexico and grow up 

 to full-sized fish, when they would return to the clear waters 

 of the Holston to deposit their eggs, and in this way our river 

 would be supplied with shad. It seems that those engaged in 

 this business were not mistaken. The regular salt-water shad 

 are here, and have been caught from the Holston River this 

 spring. The only trap we know of left in good order from 

 the effects of the ice gorge of last winter, is the one belong- 

 ing to Mr. Melindy, five miles west of Rogersville. Last 

 week a number of fish were captured by hini which were 

 strangers to river men. Nothing of the kind had ever been 

 seen before as coming from these waters. The fish were 

 brought to town and disposed of. They are pronounced as 

 undoubtedly salt-water shad. If this is so, the question is 

 settled, and in a few years the Holston will be lined with mil- 

 lions of this excellent fish." 



Little Eexs Once More— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Last year we had quite a discussion as to whether little eels 

 went up stream or down in the spring. At that time I made 

 up my mind that if ever the opportunity offered I would set- 

 tle the matter, so far, at least, as my trout brook was con- 

 cerned; and now I wish to say that the wriggling fry are at 

 it again with a vengeance. This afternoon I took a rule, and 

 by actual measurement found hundreds of eels two and three 

 inches in length, clinging to the damp surface of a perpen- 

 dicular plank facing, at the lower side of the outlet from my 

 trout pond. Not an individual eel was to be seen above the 

 outlet, while the pool, stones and timbers below were black 

 with them. So eager were they in their effort to surmount 

 the dam, that when I washed or scraped them oil the plank, 

 they at once returned, and in five minutes were climbing 

 again. To morrow I mean to boil a few thousand of them 

 and eive my trout a feast. Thomas Clapham. 



Troulbeck, May 19, 1879. | 



Eels Foe Michigan.— Troy, iV. Y., June 2.— A. J. Kel- 

 logg Fish Commissioner of Michigan, will leave for Toledo 

 with the first shipment of eels (for the State of Michigan) to- 

 morrow. He will take 80,000. The weather has been so 

 cold they were hard to procure. Mr. K. has O. M. Chase 

 with him and is in hopes to catch 500,000 if not a round mil- 

 lion. Ebb Tush. 



^tuml §istarg. 



POLYDACTYLY HORSES, RECENT AND 

 EXTINCT. 



By Professor O. 0. Maesh. 



[From tlie "American Journal of Science and Arts," Vol. xvn., 

 June, 1S7».] 



IT is said Ithat the aborigines of this country, when they 

 first saw the horses brought over by the Spaniards, 

 named the new animal "the beast with one fingernail." 

 Certainly, the single hoof on each foot is the most marked 

 characteristic of the modern horse, and one on which some of 

 his most valuable qualities depend. The nearest living allies 

 of the horse are the ass and the zebra, and they possess the 

 same pedal peculiarities. 



In addition to each main digit of the ordinary horse, how- 

 ever, the anatomist finds concealed beneath the skin two 

 slender metapodial " splint bones," which are evidently the 

 remnants of two other toes, originally possessed by the 

 ancestors of the horse. It is an interesting fact that these 

 splint bones are sometimes quite fully developed, and may 

 even support extra digits, which are much smaller and 

 shorter than the main fool. As these small hooflets are 

 usually regarded as a serious detriment to the animal, they 

 are generally removed from the colt Eoon after birth, but in 

 such cases the enlarged splint bones not unfrequently indicate 

 in the adult their former existence. 



Numerous cases of extra digits in the horse have been re- 

 corded and in nearly all of them a single lateral hooflet was 

 present on one of the fore legs. In most instances the occur- 

 ence was noted chiefly OB account of its rarity, and no record 

 was made of the exact position of the extra hoofs with refer- 

 ence to the main digit, nor of the bignifleancfi of these useless 

 appendages. Since tue attention ot the writer was called to 

 the subject, a lew years since, he has ascertained that these 

 supernumerary digits are much more common in the horse 

 than has been supposed, and in many crseB they appear to in- 

 dicate a reversion to an early ancestral type. 



The figures given below represent, (1) the foot of the 

 modern horse in its normal condition, with the splint bones 

 rudimentary ; (2) the foot abnormally developed, with one 

 splint bone bearing a small hooflet, and (3) the foot of an ex- 

 tinct three-toed ancestor of the horse. The feet are all from 

 the left side, and the numbers attached indicate the different 

 digits, counting from the inside. The first and fifth, corres- 

 ponding to the thumb and little finger of the human hand, 

 are wanting in these figures. A specimen similar to that rep- 

 resented in figure 2 is preserved in the Museum of Yale Col- 



Figure l.— Fore foot ot llorse (] : :>jum- 

 Figure 2.— Fore foot of Horee with extra aigit. 

 Figure 3.— Fore foot of Bipparion. 



The first recorded instances of extra digits in the horse, 

 known to the writer, are two mentioned by Goorge Simon 

 Winter, in his famous book on horses, published near the be- 

 ginning of the last century.* One of the horses referred to 

 and figured In this work was "eight-toed," having a small 

 extra digit on the nside of each foot (p. 134, Plate 21 F.). 

 Winter states that this horse was exhibited in Germany iu 

 1663, and a portrait of it preserved in Cologne. His account 

 was derived from a person who bad examined the animal. 

 The other horse described by Winter (p. 136, Plate 24) had a 

 small hoof on the inside of each fore foot, and this steed, 

 Winter states, he had not only seen but ridden. 



Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire has recorded the fact that he exam- 

 ined a foatal horse which was polydactyle on the fore feet, the 

 left foot bearing three nearly equal digits, and the right but 

 two. I Owen has described the right fore foot of a horse 

 with a double hoof, the extra digit being on the inner side, 

 answering to the second digit.l Arloing has figured and de- 

 scribed similar specimens.! Leidy has described the right 

 fore leg of a horse with a supernumary digit on the inner side; 

 and Allen subsequently discussed the same specimen. § A 

 number of other instances have been recorded, showing that 

 extra digits are by no means rare in the modern horse. 



The most interesting case of this kind examined personally 

 by the writer is the horse represented in figure 4. This ani- 

 mal was on exhibition in New Orleans, in the spring of 1878, 

 and Dr. Stanford E. Chaille of that city first called the atten- 

 tion of the writer to it, and likewise sent a photograph, from 

 which the cut below was made. 



to the writer by those who have seen them, are two of special 

 One of these was a colt with three Iocs on one fore 

 foot, and two on the other. The animal recently died in 

 Ohio. Another is a mare, raised in Indiana, and still living, 

 which is said to have three toes on each fore foot, and a small 

 extra digit on each hind foot. In regard to the latter animal, 

 the writer hopes soon to have more definite information. 



Besides the instances mentioned above of extra digits in 

 place in the existing horse, there aTe many cases on record of 

 true monstrosities, as, for example, additional feet or limbs 

 attached to various portions of the body. Such deformities 

 now admit of classification and explanation, but need not be 

 considered in the present discussion. 



In reviewing what is now Known of extra digitB in the feet 

 of the modern horse, the best authenticated instances appear 

 to fall naturally into two groups. The first of these includes 

 digits which are simply cases of reduplication, quite similar 

 to the extra finger occasionally seen in the human hand. 

 Such deformities are apparently a vegetative repetition, the 

 explanation of which has not yet been satisfactorily deter- 

 mined. The second clasB includes cases where a true digit is 

 formed, the component bones of which are in their normal 

 position, and in proper relation to the rest of the limb. Such 

 instances appear to be clearly due to reversion to some ances- 

 tral type. Some digits, which appear at first sight to belong 

 in the first category, may really illustrate the second, but the 

 converse of this is much less likely to be true. The cases of 

 apparent reversion are of especial interest, and it is import- 

 ant to place on record any information in regard to them, so 

 that they may be compared with extinct allies of the horse. 



The cases of extra digits in the horse, so far as at present 

 known, show that these appendages make their appearance 

 more frequently on the fore feet than on the hind feet. This 

 is precisely what a study of the fossil forms of equine mam- 

 mals would lead us to anticipate. 



Another noticeable peculiarity of these extra digits is their 

 more frequent occurrence on the inside of the main digit, 

 while the outer splint remains rudimentary. This, it must be 

 confessed, is directly opposed to the geneial law of reduction 

 in the ungulate foot, which, briefly stated, is, that of the five 

 original digits, the first or inner one first disappears ; next the 

 fifth or outer one, then the second, and last of all the fourth. 

 The third always remains as in the horse. It would, there- 

 fore, be naturally expected that when only one additional 

 digit was present it would be on the outside of the fore foot. 



The tendency to interference would seem to be another rea- 

 son against the retention of the inner digit. Possibly Ihe ad- 

 ditional protection which an inside hooflet would receive 

 might more than counterbalance this influence. Again, the 

 above law ib not known to apply to the perissodactyle foot, 

 beyond the first and fifth digits, and if the second digit was 

 originally of greater use than the fourth, and hence was 

 longer retained, an ancestor of the horse may yet be found 

 with the second and third toes alone developed. 



In considering these double hoofs of the horse, and with 

 them the well-known cleft in the coffin bone of recent and 

 extinct equines, it is important to understand that in no case 

 do they indicate any approach to the true artiodaclyle type, 

 as some authors have supposed. The difference between the 

 perissodactyle or "odd-tced," and artiodaclyle or "even_ 



M\ 



Figure 4.— Outline of norse wits extra digit on each foot. 



This same horse was subsequently brought to the North, 

 and a few days since was on exhibition in New Haven, Conn., 

 where the writer examined him with some care. The animal 

 is of small size, about ten years old, and is said to have been 

 foaled in Cuba. He is known among showmen as the " Eight- 

 footed Cuban Horse." With the exception of the extra 

 digits, he is well formed, and doubtless is capable of consid- 

 erable speed, although some of the exploits claimed for him 

 may fairly be questioned. 



The four main hoofs are of ordinary form and size. The 

 extra digits are on the inside, and correspond to the index 

 finger of the human hand. They are less than half the size 

 of the principal toes, and none of them reach the ground. An 

 external examination indicates that the metapodial bone of 

 each extra digit is entire, and at its lower end, at least, is not 

 co-ossified with the main cannon bone. 



There appear to be two phalanges above the coffin bone in 

 each of these digits, which are thus rendered flexible, espe- 

 cially in a fore and aft direction. There was no indication 

 of "interfering" shown on the inner digits themselves, 

 although it is difficult to see how this could be entirely avoid- 

 ed during rapid motion. The splint bone on the outer Bide 

 of each leg is apparently of the usual shape and size. 



Among the instances of recent polydactyle horses, describe d 



• Ite Re Equaria, Nuremberg, 1T03. 



nees Xaturellee, xl, p. 22-1. Paris, 1S2T. 

 i Oateologleal Catalogue, Museum Royal College of Surgeons, Vol. 

 II., p. 53T. London, 1863. 



let des Sciences Naturellm, VIII., p. 55. 1867. 

 5 Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, isil, p. 112, 

 and 1837, p. 82. 



toed," structure is a profound one, extending to nearly every 

 part of the skeleton, and marking two distinct groups of Un- 

 gulates. The uurnber of toes has really noihiug to do with 

 the true distinction, and hence the terms in use are especially 

 misleading. The real difference, so far as the feet are con- 

 cerned, is that in the perissodactyle type the axis of the limb 

 passes through the middle of the third digit (Mesaxonia), 

 while in artiodactyles it is outside of this digit (Paraaxmia), 

 between it and the fourth. 



If, now, we turn back to the early ancestor of the horse for 

 an explanation of the supplementary digits which so often 

 make their appearance, we shall not look in vain, especially in 

 this country. America is the original homo of the horse, and 

 during the whole of Tertiary time this continent was occu- 

 pied with equine mammals of many and various forms. 

 Although all these became extinct before the discovery of this 

 country, their abundant remains mark out the genealogy of 

 the horse in an almost unbroken succession of forms. 



If we examine the remains of the oldest representatives of 

 the horse in this country, we shall find that these animals 

 were all polydactyle, and of small size. As the line was con- 

 tinued toward the present era, there was a gradual increase in 

 size, and a diminution in thenumberof toes, until the present 

 type of horse was produced. In view of the facts mentioned 

 in the preceding pages, it will be profitable to trace the main 

 line of descent in this group, from its appearance to the pres- 

 ent period, and note especially the changes in the number of 

 digits. For this purpose the diagram given below will be in- 

 structive, as it records the principal stages in the series, both 

 of the limbs and the teeth as well. This diagram was pre- 

 pared by the writer for Professor Huxley, who used it first in 



