290 



EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE. 



of the abnormal foot of a pony mare I took in Surrey in 

 1894. This mare, which was about 132 high, and which 

 was of the light trapper class, suffered no inconvenience in 

 her movements from the presence of the supernumerary digit. 

 At the time I took the photograph, this pony had by 

 her side a smart, healthy foal, whose feet were normal. 

 Fig 372 represents the bones of a colt's near fore leg 

 that was given by Professor Goubaux to the Veterinary 

 College at Alfort. These new digits are no functionless 

 monstrosities, like a sixth finger or toe which sometimes 

 appears on the hand or foot of man, but are the restorations 



Fig 376 —{Aftet Caudiy.) thPPARION GRx\cile ^^.tb xeal height). 



of parts once used by the horse's ancestors. Here we have 

 a good exemplification of the struggle which is constantly 

 going on in the animal body between the tendency to 

 preserve the ancestral type and the effort to adapt itself to 

 its surx'ounding conditions. If we examine the foot of the pig 

 (Fig*- 375)^ which, like the horse, has hoofs, we shall find 

 that it has two toes upon which it walks, and two supple- 

 mentary digits which do not touch the ground. As the 

 function makes the organ, we may confidently assert that 



