ILLUSTRATIONS OF EVOLUTION AMONG FOSSIL 



MAMMALS. 



. 1. - The Horse. 



My W. I). Matthbw, Ph.D., 

 Curator. Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 



As a domestic animal the Horse is to be found almost every- 

 where that man can live. He is spread all over the world 



from torrid to arctic climates, in all the continents, in remote 

 anic islands — he is completely cosmopolitan. Hut as a wild 

 animal the Horse is at present limited to the Old World, and is 

 found there only in the open arid or desert plains of Central Asia 

 and Africa. There are two Species in Asia, the Asiatic Wild Ass 

 (Equus hetnionus), and the little known Przewalsky's Horse 



wilskii), while in Africa there are the African Wild Ass {E. 



\us) and the several species of Zebra (E. zebra, E. hurchclli, 

 E. quagga). In the Americas and Australia there are no true 

 wild horses, the mustangs and broncos of the Western Plains and 



th America being feral (domesticated animals run wild) and 

 descended fr< >m the horses brought over from Eun ipe by the early 

 white settlers. When the Spaniards first explored the New 

 World they found no horses on either continent. The Indians 

 were quite unfamiliar with them and at first regarded the strange 

 animal which the newcomers rode with wonder and terror, 

 like that of the ancient Romans when Pyrrhus and his Greeks 

 brought elephants '"the huge earth-shaking beast"' — to fight 



inst them. 



The H-»rse is distinguished from all other animals now living 



that he has but one toe on each foot. Comparison 



with other animals shows that this toe is the third or middle 



* of the The ho. -ponds to the nail of a man « »r 



the ind is broadened OUt to afford a firm. 



Support on which the whole weight of the animal n 



annon-b I I are two slender little 



