558 PROFESSOR J. C. EWART 



(3) the Forest variety (PL III. fig. 9), specimens of which occur in Asia, but especially 

 in the north of Europe. # 



When I proceeded to make a comparative study of the skulls from the Newstead 

 Roman camp, I was at once struck with the fact that they included three well-marked 

 types ; that, in other words, the Roman auxiliaries who garrisoned the Newstead fort had 

 in their possession in addition to cross-bred animals, three very distinct varieties of 

 horses, al] of which possibly still existed in a wild state at the end of the first century. 

 Further, owing doubtless to intercrossing having been less practised during the first 

 century than during recent times, it was in most cases possible to say with some 

 certainty from which of the three varieties the cross-bred animals had inherited their 

 chief characteristics. 



Of the three distinct kinds of skulls, one is characterised by a very narrow facial 

 region, one by having a short, broad face, while the third has a very long face bent 

 downwards so as to form a distinct angle with the cranium. These marked differences in 

 the skulls from the Roman fort led me to re-examine the skulls of modern horses. The 

 result of a comparative study of the skulls of living varieties with the skulls of the first 

 and second centuries from Newstead, conclusively proved : ( 1 ) That the greatly bent long 

 Newstead skulls are almost identical with the skull of Equus prejvalskii of the Great 

 Gobi Desert — the only wild horse now living ; (2) that the very narrow skulls agree 

 in all essential points with the skulls of typical Celtic ponies and with the skulls of 

 certain high-caste Arabs ; and (3) that the broad-faced skulls with the face nearly in a 

 line with the cranium closely resemble the skulls of horses of the Forest type frequently 

 met with in the north of Europe and in the north and west of Asia. These facts 

 established, I was in a position ( 1 ) to estimate the size of the horses in possession of the 

 Gaulish and other auxiliaries who garrisoned the Newstead fort during the first and 

 second centuries, and (2) to arrive at a fairly accurate conclusion as to the make, speed, 

 and temperament of these horses, and thus settle to which modern types they are most 

 intimately related. To determine the size of the Newstead horses, I selected for special 

 study (l) two narrow skulls, one in which the total length (length of the vertex) was 

 494 mm., and one in which the length was 534 mm. ; (2) a short-faced broad but nearly 

 straight skull, measuring 547 mm. ; (3) a skull with a very long bent face, measuring 

 560 mm. ; and (4) the longest skull in the collection, in which the length of the vertex 

 {i.e. from the occipital crest to the alveolar point) was 582 mm. 



The small narrow (494 mm.) skull I found closely agreed with the skull of a 

 Hebridean (Celtic) pony which, when three years old, measured 48 inches (12 hands) at 

 the withers. In this pony the height was 2*5 times the length of the skull. 



Assuming that the Newstead pony, with a 494 mm. skull, was built on the lines of 

 the Celtic variety, it would probably measure, when alive, 48 "6 inches, i.e. slightly 

 over 12 hands. 



* Ewart, "The Multiple Origin of Horses and Ponies," Trans. Highland Soc. of Scotland, 1904. "The Tarpan," 

 etc., Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., 1906. 



