ON SKULLS OF HORSES FROM THE ROMAN FORT AT NEWSTEAD. 577 



the Forest type. This is doubtless largely the result of artificial selection, but the 

 combination of pronounced Steppe and Forest characters in the same individual has 

 been rendered possible because each variety tends to transmit almost unimpaired the 

 points which have long counted most in the struggle for existence. In the case of the 

 Steppe horse, long powerful jaws seem to be of the utmost importance ; in the case of 

 the Forest horse, broad hoofs (which imply thick fetlock joints and wide metacarpal 

 bones) suitable for crossing swamps and marshes are absolutely necessary. Hence when 

 the Steppe and Forest varieties are crossed, other things being equal, the half-breeds 

 inherit a Prejvalsky-like head, but limbs and hoofs adapted for a forest life. 



Some of the strains of the modern heavy horses are said to have originated from the 

 crossing of English mares with stallions imported during the thirteenth century from 



Fig. 2. — Lateral view of the skull of a cart-horse. In this skull the face is decidedly prominent below the level of the orbits, 

 and strongly bent downwards on the cranium. In its measurements this skull agrees closely with the Roman skull figured 

 (PI. II. fig. 7), and with the skull of the four-year old Prejvalsky horse (fig. 1). 



the Low Countries and the banks of the Elbe ; but, as we have seen, horses practically 

 identical, except in size, with the modern Shire breed were in the Newstead fort during 

 the first and second centuries. In the skulls from Walthamstow there is evidence of 

 a trace of Steppe blood. If these skulls belong to the Neolithic age, England had 

 horses more or less allied to the modern Shire long before the Roman invasion. 



Only the Steppe and Forest varieties seem to have taken part in the making of 

 typical members of the Shire breed ; but in Clydesdales there is evidence, now and again, 

 of Celtic or Libyan blood. # 



The Hackney breed, a recent blend of several varieties, includes animals of very 

 different types; amongst others, a "Roman-nosed" type. Recently on examining the 

 skull of a Hackney with a convex profile, I found that the face was as much bent on the 



* Evidence of Celtic blood we have in the full eyes, small ears, and a more or less perfect tail-lock, and at rare 

 intervals of the all but complete absence of hind chestnuts. 



