1909-10.] Restoration of an Ancient British Race of Horses. 293 
metatarsal in the British Museum from the “ Elephant Bed ” is 235 mm. 
long and 33 mm. wide,* i.e. the length, instead of being, as in the Onager, 
over nine, is only seven times the width at the middle of the shaft. The 
molars (figs. 1 and 2) which formed the type for Owen’s A sinus fossilis, 
differ, in size and shape and in the arrangement of the enamel folds, from 
the molars of Equus fossilis from Kent’s Cave (fig. 3) and from the large 
complex fossil molars of Owen’s Equus plicidens from Oreston (fig. 4), 
which seem to belong to the same stock as Equus namadicus of the Indian 
Pleistocene and Equus complicatus widely distributed in pre-glacial times 
in North America. The small Oreston molars (m. 2 and m. 3) also differ 
from the molars of the horse of Solutre (fig. 5), and from the molars of all 
the asses and zebras I have examined. 
If only the teeth figured by Owen were available for study, it would he 
extremely difficult to determine the zoological position of the small equine 
which in Pleistocene times inhabited the south of England. Fortunately, 
the Oreston fissure has yielded a first molar (m. 1) as well as second and 
DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 1 to 12. 
Fig. 1. — Upper second molar (m. 2), nat. size. Oreston, Owen’s Asinus fossilis. Crown, 1’83 
times length, of its pillar (p). After Owen. 
Fig. 2. — Last upper molar (m. 3), nat. size. Oreston, Owen’s Asinus fossilis. After Owen. 
Fig. 3. — Upper molar ( Equus fossilis ), nat. size. Kent’s Hole. Crown, 1*2 times length of 
pillar (p). After Owen. 
Fig. 4. — Upper second molar (m. 2), nat. size. Equus plicidens , Owen, Oreston. Crown, 
1 ‘4 times length of pillar ( p ). After Owen. 
Fig. 5. — Upper molar, nat. size. Solutre {Equus robustus). After Boule. 
Fig. 6. — First upper molar (m. 1), nat. size. Oreston. From section 5 mm. below grinding 
surface of slightly worn crown. The crown is 2 "4 times length of pillar (p). Brit. Museum. 
Fig. 7. — Upper molar {Equus stenonis), nat. size. In this tooth the crown is nearly three times 
the length of the grinding surface of the pillar (p). It is commonly assumed domestic horses 
are descended from two or more varieties of E. stenonis, which acquired long- pillared molars. 
Fig. 8. — Upper third premolar (nat. size) of Merychippus, a small three-toed Miocene horse. The 
pillar ( p ) is small and nearly circular. After Loch. 
Fig. 9. — Upper molar (nat. size) from Pleistocene of Algiers. The pillar in this molar is inter- 
mediate between the Haute Loire (fig. 10) and the Oreston, m. 1 (fig. 6). After Boule. 
Fig. 10. — Upper molar (nat. size) from the Pliocene (Coupet, Haute Loire). The pillar is shorter 
in this small Pliocene race than in m. 1 (fig. 6) from Oreston. After Boule. 
Fig. 11. --First upper molar (m. 1) of a 36 ’5 inches six-year-old Shetland pony. The internal 
pillar ( p ), smaller than in the first molar (fig. 6), from Oreston, very closely agrees with the 
pillar of the molar (fig. 10) from the French Pliocene, and the outlines of the crescents (the 
pits which extend into the crown) are almost identical. The crown is nearly three times the 
length of its pillar. 
Fig. 12. — Last premolar (p.m. 4) of the 36 '5 inches Shetland pony. The internal pillar {p), 
one-third the length of the crown and shorter than the pillar in m. 1 (fig. 11), closely agrees 
with the internal pillar of the Newstead pony (fig. 22). 
* This metatarsal belonged to a stout race about 12 hands high, now probably represented 
by thick-set Iceland ponies of the “ forest ” type. 
