6o 
NEWS FROM THE BRANCHES. 
Croydon and Norwood.— A lecture on the “Natural History of Croham 
Hurst,” was given by the Hon. Sec. to the members of the Dennett Hall Natural 
History Society, on January 23. The lecture was illustrated by the lantern under 
the supervision of Mr. Cooper. On Januarj’ 25, Mr. E. A. Martin, F.G.S., 
dealt with “Man’s Helpers Amongst Animals,” before the children of Miss 
Thornton’s “ Sunbeam ” Band of Mercy, Thornton Heath. Mr. Councillor 
Betteridge took the chair, the lecture being illustrated by slides kindly lent by 
the Humanitarian League. At the end of the lecture prizes were presented for 
essay-writing following on a previous lecture. 
Sale. — On February 17 a lecture was given in connection with the Sale 
Social Guild by Dr. Graham Renshaw, entitled “ The Horse Family and its 
Ancestors.” The lecture commenced with a description of the skeleton of the 
horse as contrasted with that of a man. The skeleton of Phenacodtis prbmmis 
showed a verj’ early ungulate type, the teeth being very simple, the hoofs small 
and the tail of considerable length. The gradual evolution of the present day 
type of teeth and hoof in the horse was then studied in detail, the case of a 
horse which had supernumerary hoofs being cited as an instance of reversion to 
primitive ancestral structure. The ancestors of horses were related to a number 
of large animals, like the Titanotheriu /71 and others, now only known by fossilised 
remains, and also to animals which have changed by gradual evolution to the 
present day tapirs and rhinoceroses. A series of photographs of various rhino- 
ceroses was shown on the screen, the Javan, Sumatran, hairy-eared and square- 
mouthed species being thus represented. The lecture concluded with a detailed 
account of the horse family in modern times. The wild asses known to science 
at the present day were : the Asiatic wild ass, of which two forms, the Kiang of 
Thibet and the wild ass of Scripture, had been e.xhibited in captivity ; the African 
wild ass, the parent of our domestic donkey ; and the Somali wild ass. The 
zebras were of several species: (i) the mountain zebra, with small hoofs and 
general asinine appearance ; (2) Burchell’s zebra, with larger hoof and much 
resembling a horse ; (3) Grev/s zebra, with long thin stripes on its body ; and 
(4) the quagga, a fine animal which had unfortunately been completely exter- 
minated. The attention of the audience was called to the work of the Selborne 
Society in preventing the wanton destruction of animal life. 
The lecture was fully illustrated by the lantern, and the slides included several 
interesting representations of the recent successful domestication of Burchell’s 
zebra in the Transvaal, the animals having been harnessed to light Cape carts. 
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