DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ASS AND THE HORSE, orj^ 



2. The ass has a tufted tail, somewhat like that of an ox, 

 erect mane, and no forelock. The horse has a bushy tail, 

 drooping mane, and a forelock, when they have been allowed 

 to grow. The difference in the mane is due to the length of 

 the hairs of the part. In the horse, the hairs of the tail grow 

 long from the root of the dock. In the ass, they do so only 

 as they approach the end of the tail. 



3. Veterinary anatomists state that the ass has five loin 

 vertebra, and the horse six (p. 24), unless in some very 

 exceptional cases, when he may have five. If we examine 

 the skeleton of the mountain zebra (Fig. 257) which is in the 

 Museum of the R.C.S., Lincoln's Inn Fields, we shall, how- 

 ever, see that it has six loin vertebra. The skeleton of the 

 famous race-horse Orlando, which is in the same building, has 

 only five loin vertebrae. I have never heard of an instance, 

 in the domestic ass, of the number of these bones exceeding 

 five. I do not know their normal number in zebras. 



4. In the horse, the lachrymal duct, which is the canal 

 that conveys tears from the eye on each respective side into 

 the nostril, has its opening near the inferior commissure of 

 the nostril, and on the line of union between the dark-coloured 

 skin and the pink mucous membrane. In the ass and mule, 

 it is situated at the inner face of the outer wing of the nostril. 

 This orifice is sometimes double. 



5. In the ass, the false nostril extends higher up than in 

 the horse. 



6. The male ass has two rudimental teats in the form of 

 small tubercles. They are absent in the horse. 



7. The ass brays ; the horse neighs. 



8. In the ass, the deep depression at the base of the 

 epiglottis is covered by a thin membrane, which is capable of 

 vibrating, and which is wanting in the horse. Its presence 

 may have some influence in causing the voice of the ass to 

 differ from that of the horse^ I may explain that the 

 epiglottis is a cartilage that acts as a door to the larynx, which 

 is the organ of voice, and which forms an opening into the 

 windpipe. 



