100 



EVOUTIOX OF THE HORSE 



The <i('()l()^ncal a^a> to wliicli all the fossils shown in this hall W'long, 

 coviTs a period of from 1 ()(),()()() to :'>,()()(),()()0 years. At each side of the 

 entrance are charts indicating the successive periods of time from the 

 Triassic to tlie Tertiary, and the animal life wliich pertained to each. 

 Careful ^niides and exhaust ixc cards of explanation, photographs, and 

 window trans])arencies coiiihine to make the entire exhihit illuminative 

 and interesting. 



Restoration of Eohippus, the four-toed horse. This ancestor of the modern horse, scarcely larger 

 than the red fox, lived some three millions of years ago. It comes from the Lower Eocene of 

 Wyoming and New Mexico 



The particular feature of this hall is the wonderful series in the cases 

 })y the entrance and in the first alcoves on the right showing the evolution 



of the horse in nature. The ^luseiuii is justly proud of this 



vo u ion collection. Not oidy is it tlie largest and finest series of 



jjQj.gg fossil horse skeletons in the world, but it is larger than the 



coin])ined collections of all other institutions, and it con- 

 tains the earliest known ancestors of the horse, tlie little four-toed Kohippus, 

 which was no bigger than a fox and on foin- toes scampered over Tertiary 

 rocks. As will be seen by an examination of the skeletons of the horse 

 and man in the Quaternary Hall, the modern horse walks on the tip of his 

 middle finger and toe. The front hoof bone corresponds to the last joint 

 of the third finger in the human hand, and the other bones of the leg corre- 

 spond bone for bone with the structure of the finger, wrist and arm of man. 

 In the modern horse the remainine; fingers or toes of the fore and hind foot 



