Eohippus Orohippus Mesohippus 



which was no bigger than a fox and on four 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 corres- 

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

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

 have entirely disappeared, or remain only as vestiges, the so-called " splint 

 bones." The structure of the modern horse shows that it developed from 

 a five-toed ancestor. This ancestry has been traced back to the four-toed 

 stage. 



In the wall case at the right of the entrance is given a synopsis of the 

 evolution of the foot and skull of the horse and the geological age in which 

 each stage is found. Across the alcove the visitor will find the skeleton of 

 Eohippus, the four-toed stage of the horse and the earliest form that has 

 been discovered. This specimen is from the Wind River beds of Wyoming 

 and may have lived 3,000,000 years ago. It is interesting to note that 

 while there were no horses found in this country by the white settlers, 

 America is the original home of the horse. 



Passing from skeleton to skeleton the changes that have taken place in 

 the development of the horse are easily distinguished. The exhibit is made 

 more lifelike by plaster restorations of the animals and by water-color 

 sketches showing primitive horses in their environment. These paintings 

 and models are by Charles R. Knight. In the later types of the three-toed 

 stage the two lateral toes have lost their original function of support and are 

 gradually become vestiges. The three-toed horse in the center of the alcove 

 is one of the most complete and finest examples that has ever been unearthed. 



Opposite the horse exhibit on the other side of the hall, are series of 

 specimens illustrating the evolution of the camel, deer and the other cloven- 

 hoofed animals. These animals like the cow of to-day walked on the tips 

 of the third and fourth fingers, and the gradual disappearance or reduction 

 to useless vestiges of the other fingers and toes can be traced as in the horse 

 series. 



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