The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-10-23

our present horse, and their remains
have been found in such quantities that
more than twenty different kinds have
been recognized. The smallest of these
pigmy horses was about as large as
fox. and differed considerably from our
present horse. 1t lived in what has
been termed the Eocene time, and is
called the Eohippus. Instead of walk
ing on the tip of single toe or hoof.
as does the horse of to-day. it had four
well-deyeloped toes and a rudimentary
fifth. In later bed of this
same time is found the Orohip-
pus-a pigmy horse with four perfect
toes in front and three behind. A
great many ages later. in beds OF
the Miocene time bones of the MesO-
hippus appear. Then the horse vas as
large as sheep-equalling in size the
pigmy elephant its feet were still
divided as it had three toes and the
splint of another in each forcfOot, and
three toes behind. Following this came
other forms, as the Anchitherium; then
the Hipparion, as large as a donkey;
and finally the Pliohippus, with single
ancestor of our great horse OF to-day.
in the feet Of which. it one carefully
examines, are to be found rudimentary
splint Zones that are the representa-
tives of the toes that were fully devel-
oped in the ancient forms. In Yale
College . very complete set of these
strange horses. from the pigmy form
of long ago to the horse of to-day. can
be seen. the result of the researches in
the far West Of Professor Marsh.
"A few months ago a pigmy VIII lie
was washed ashore on the New Jersey
coast. and was sent to the National
Museum. In appearance it resembled
| the enormous finback, but instead of
being sixty or eighty feet in length.
and weighing several tons. it measured
only nine feet in length. and was &C
companicd by . baby pigmy that was
little over foot long. The. pigmy
whales properly belong in the Pacific
| Ocean, and are often seen on the Cali
fornian coast; but this specimen prob
ably siraycd around the Horn, and with
perhaps a few companions was wan
dering about the Atlantic. or. as some
one suggested. waiting for the canal
through the isthmus for short cut
home.
among the birds there is pigmy
quail-a delicate little creature, so
small that the ancient Chinese used it
| to warm their hands in cold weather,
carrying bird in each closed palm.
Among the quadrupeds the pigmy deer
is perhaps the most interesting. and
when seen it seems perfect antelope
in miniature 1t is the Cephalopterus
pygmpus, and is confined to South
Africa most delicate and fragile lit
tie creature. being hardly over twelve
inches in length. The head is long
and pointed. the ears short. and the
horns like toy ones, and very delicate
and slender, being less than two
inches in height, highly polished. and
jet black.
"Quite as much Of p'gmy is the
Sultana antelope. found in the billy re-
gions of Abysslnia- Its height at the
shoulder is only fourteen inches; the
horns are extremely. thin and about
four inches long. The young of these
| m:dgets of the hoofed tribe are beaufi-
full little creatures. those of the ante
lope being about eight inches long
| WINCH UUIk1s Nu0 W1tA LICK SOAt-GOiOASu
fur: delicate pipe stem-li<e limbs, large
and expressive eyes, they are. perhaps.
the most attractive of any of the minute
animals. have, - continued the artist.
NEARLY all these interesting creatures
in my collection. and when placed to-
| gether they present a striking and in
teresting appearance. telling story Of
| the curious notifications 10 which the
various forms of life are subject | am
going to make q model of each one for
. private museum. and they are to be
placed in contrast with the giants
Thus the pigmy whale win be placed
beside the right whale. the small Gle
| plant next to the giant-mammoth, and
so on in this way the great extremes Of
lie are shown at glance. IN Z.
| Post.