HORSES. 
489 
The horses are such well-known and familiar animals, that it 
Form. • • 
would be superfluous to describe their form and appearance in detail. 
It may be observed, however, that the ears are long, and that the tail is likewise 
elongated, but may be either clothed with long hairs throughout its length, or 
merely tufted at the extremity. The neck carries a mane, which may be either 
erect or pendent, and the fore-limb has a hard naked callosity above the wrist 
joint. In most wild species some portions, or the whole, of the body and limbs are 
shiee stallion (“maes victoe”). —The property of Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. 
Distribution. 
marked with transverse dark stripes, but these disappear more or less completely 
in the domesticated breeds. 
With the exception of those that have been introduced by man 
into other regions, horses are now confined to the Old World, and are 
especially characteristic of Africa. They may be divided into true horses, zebras, 
and asses. 
Nomenclature Before, however, proceeding to the consideration of these groups, 
of Limbs. may be well to mention that the terms commonly applied to the 
various segments of the limbs of the members of the horse family are not the 
same as those used by the zoologist and anatomist. For instance, what is commonly 
designated the knee of the horse is really its wrist, while the so-called hock in the 
hind-limb is the ankle-joint. The true knee is, of course, in the hind-limb, and is 
commonly known as the stifle-joint, while in the fore-limb the elbow-joint is 
situated, as in other animals, at the lower end of the humerus. The fore and hind 
cannon-bones respectively correspond to the human middle metacarpal and meta¬ 
tarsal bones, and the so-called pastern and coronet bones to the three joints of the 
