Chapter 20

HORSES AND ASSES.

HORSE. DIFFERENCES IN THE BREEDS. INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF. DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE. CAN WITHSTAND MUCH COLD. BREEDS MUCH MODIFIED BY SELECTION. COLOURS OF THE HORSE. DAPPLING. DARK STRIPES ON THE SPINE, LEGS, SHOULDERS, AND FOREHEAD. DUN-COLOURED HORSES MOST FREQUENTLY STRIPED. STRIPES PROBABLY DUE TO REVERSION TO THE PRIMITIVE STATE OF THE HORSE.

ASSES. BREEDS OF. COLOUR OF. LEG- AND SHOULDER-STRIPES. SHOULDER-STRIPES SOMETIMES ABSENT, SOMETIMES FORKED.

The history of the Horse is lost in antiquity. Remains of this animal in a domesticated condition have been found in the Swiss lake-dwellings, belonging to the Neolithic period. (2/1. Rutimeyer 'Fauna der Pfahlbauten' 1861 s. 122.) At the present time the number of breeds is great, as may be seen by consulting any treatise on the Horse. (2/2. See 'Youatt on the Horse': J. Lawrence on the Horse 1829; W.C.L. Martin 'History of the Horse' 1845: Col. H. Smith in 'Nat. Library, Horses' 1841 volume 12: Prof. Veith 'Die naturgesch. Haussaugethiere' 1856.) Looking only to the native ponies of Great Britain, those of the Shetland Isles, Wales, the New Forest, and Devonshire are distinguishable; and so it is, amongst other instances, with each separate island in the great Malay archipelago. (2/3. Crawfurd 'Descript. Dict. of Indian Islands' 1856 page 153. "There are many different breeds, every island having at least one peculiar to it." Thus in Sumatra there are at least two breeds; in Achin and Batubara one; in Java several breeds; one in Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa (one of the best breeds), Tambora, Bima, Gunung-api, Celebes, Sumba, and Philippines. Other breeds are specified by Zollinger in the 'Journal of the Indian Archipelago'