The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-10-28
America the rir., Home OF the r,or.e.

America the First Home OF the Horse.
II win be- remembered that Prof IIuSlcy
laid much stress in his American lectures ON
the support afforded the doctrine of evolution
hy the succession of vertebrate life upon this
Continent The genesis Of the horse, Tor in
stance. could only bc demonstrated through
fossil typos discovered in our soil. To our
knowledge of thi. subject Prof Marsh has lately
maic additions of Ercnt Importance. which ar"
SGT forth in his address delivered some wc"k-
ago before th" American Association for the
Advancement If Science. and WIS published in
"a hands 'me pamphlet
!, is not many yours since Nh" most eminent
professors of zoology In Germany and ENGLAND
were in the habit II informing their pupils that
rlehorsr was a gift Of ia. Old World To- the y W.
and was entirely unknown ina America until in
troduced 10y the Spuuiarls. A. 90 the reports
That earlier r.inains of horses had been dis oy-
crod on this continent. these were pronounced
too vague and ineonrlusive To- be presented u-
facts in science. Since that epoch. however
Prof. Marsh has uncarth,d with his own hands
NOT lee- ihan thirty distinct species Of th" equine
race ina the tertiary deposits of the West alone.
L,rry link in the chain Of development hu-
unrn exhibited. and it is now generally ronccd-
ed that America is after all. the vcritable home
oi thu horse.
The oldest representative - tho equine type
~ present known il tho diminutive EOhippWs
from the lower oorone bed. or this animal soy
cral species have been found all about the size
OF u fox. Like most Of the early mammals. this
remoi" ancestor Of the horse had forty -four
teeth. the molars with short crowns and quite
distinct in form from the prcmolars. lie had.
moreover. four well-dev"lopcd toes and IA rudi-
mcnt of another on his fore feet. and three toes
behind. In this structure Of the feet and teeth
the cohippus indicates Enthusiastically that the
characteristics divergence Of the direct ances-
trial line 10 the modern horse had already be-
gun In the next higher subdivision Of the
eocrne stratum another genus, OrOhWpus.
makes it, appearance. showing "A greater a.
though stll distant. resemblance Ia the equine
type. Hero the pulmonary ith digit Of the
fore foot has vanished. and. as regards Tia"
teeth, the last premolar has gone over t. the
molar series. We may add that orohippus was
hut tle larger than his predecessor, and IN
most other respects very similar.
Near the base Of the mio,cnc layer. we come
upon q third closely allied genus. MSoi ,ppus.
which is about ~ barge a. u sheep. and one
stage nearer the true horse. Now. there are hut
three toes and short splint-likc bone ON tn"
fore feet and three toes behind. By this time
two II the premolar teeth have boon as- simulated
10 the molar-. and other characters show clearly
that the transition j. advan ing A. W. ~ On
rising through the deposits of past ages to the
existing crust Of tho earth. W. find that
N'sDiiIIuS disappears from tn upper mloccuc
stratum, while in liz place II fourth FORM
Woh'pp0S. continues the line. This genus has
been identified with the Anchthcrlum of
Europe. first dos .riocd by Cuyicr. but it pre-
seuis some important differences Tho thrrc
toes in each foot arr mora nearly Of asizr ana
tho -lllut- H. mrt,...rpll bone diSuiuXal Iv H..