ON SKULLS OF HORSES FROM THE ROMAN FORT AT NEWSTEAD. 557 



be much if at all earlier than the middle of the second century. That the Praetorium 

 pit belongs to the second century is suggested by the coin of Hadrian (117-138 a.d.), 

 while the remaining pit is connected by a drain with a building which seems to belong 

 to a later occupation of the fort. 



From the above facts, kindly supplied by Mr Curle, there seems no escape from 

 the conclusion that the skulls which form the subject of this paper belonged to horses 

 used for cavalry and other purposes by Roman auxiliaries, who, during the latter part 

 of the first century, as well as during a considerable portion or portions of the second 

 century, occupied the settlement now commonly spoken of as the Newstead Fort. 



Size op the Horses in the Newstead Fort. 



In regard to the skulls, one of the first questions requiring an answer is — Of what 

 sizes were the horses to which they severally belonged ? 



It has hitherto been assumed that in horses the height at the withers is two and a 

 half times the length of the head. By making measurements of living horses I have, 

 however, ascertained that the relation between the length of the head and the height 

 at the withers is far from constant. This is in some cases due to the limbs being 

 relatively very short, in others to the head or limbs being relatively very long. 



Partly from skulls of horses of a known height, and partly by measuring living 

 horses, I made out : (1) That in dwarf varieties (e.g. Shetland ponies, in which the limbs 

 are relatively very short) the height at the withers may be only 2*3 times the length 

 of the skull;* (2) that in the wild horse of the Gobi Desert (Equus prejvalskii), in 

 which the head is relatively very long, the height at the withers is in some cases 

 slightly less than 2*4 times the length of the skull; (3) that in ponies of the Celtic 

 type, which have undergone little alteration either from dwarfing or domestication, 

 the height is as a rule 2*5 times the length of the head ; (4) that in well-bred Arabs 

 the height is from 2'6 to 27 times the length of the head; and (5) that in broad- 

 headed Highland ponies (i.e. in horses of the Forest type) the height at the withers may 

 be slightly more than 2 '7 times the length of the head. 



I may here mention that mainly by studying the external characters, the vertebral 

 column, and the limb bones, I, some years ago, arrived at the conclusion that domestic 

 horses had sprung from several wild species. Recently I pointed out that three distinct 

 varieties can still be identified, viz. : (l) The Steppe variety, represented by Prejvalsky's 

 horse (PI. III. fig. il) of the Great Gobi Desert of Mongolia ; (2) the Plateau variety, 

 examples of which we have in the Celtic pony (PI. III. fig. 8) of north-western Europe, 

 and in a slender- limbed Mexican race (PL III. fig. 10 — horse on right of figure) ; and 



* The length of the skull is obtained by measuring from the occipital crest to the alveolar point, i.e. to the base 

 of the wedge-like piece which projects between the upper-central incisors. In living animals, the length of the skull 

 is arrived at by measuring from the summit of the ridge across the top of the head to the edge of the gum which 

 projects between the central incisors, and deducting 4 mm. for the skin over the occipital crest and the mucous 

 membrane covering the alveolar point, 



