Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-10-02
our present horse, and their rem.,ns

havo been found in such quantities that
moro than twenty different kinds have
been recognized. The smallest of these
pigmy horses was about as large Al a
fox, and differed considerably from ORR
present horse. 1t lived in what has
been termed the Eocene time. and ia
called the Eohippus. Instead of wiki
ing on the tip of q single toe or hbof,
as does the horse of to-day. it had our
wel%l-developcd toes and a rudimentary
fifth. In a 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 AZ
large as y sheep-equalling in size the
pigmy elephant. its feet were still
divided. as it had three toes and tho
splint of another in each forefoot, and
three toes behind Following thiscamc
other forms, as the Anchitheri,an;; then
the Hipparion, as large as Il donkey:
and finally the Pliohippus, with asingle
toe on each foot, is found-thd direct
ancestor of our great horse of TODAY,
in the feet of which. ii one cA,efully
examines, are to be found r%udinentary
splint bones that are the representa-.
tives of the toes that were fully Adcyel-
oped in the ancient forms. IN Yale
College a very complete set ofsthesc
strange horses, from the pigmy form
of long ago to the horse of to-day, can
be seen, the result of the researcher in
the far West Of Professor Marsh.
ga fovv rnout1c oro a r;op,, wiki.
was washed ashore on the New Jersey
coast. and was sent to the Nationtl
Museum. In appearance it rcsemblelN
the enormous tinback, but instead Of
being sixty or eighty feet in length,
and weighing several tons. it measured
only nine feet in length, and twas ac.
companied by a baby pigmy that was
little W a foot long. The pigmy
whales properly belong in the Pacific
Ocean, and arc often seen on the Cali.
fornian coast; but this specimeniprob.
a%blystrayed around the Horn, and with
perhaps q few companions was wan.
dering about the Atlantic, or, as Tome
one suggested. waiting for the dana]
through the isthmus for a short cut
home.
"Among the birds there is a pikmy
quail-a delicate little creature, So
small that the ancient Chinese usdd il
to warm their hands in cold weather,
carrying q bird in each closed palm.
Among the quadrupeds the pismy deer
is perhaps the most %iMteresting. and
when seen 1t seems perfect antelope
in miniature. 1t is the Cephslopterus
pYgmpus, and is confined to South
Africa most delicate and frssi!e lit
tie creature. being hardly twelve
inches in langgth. The head Is long
and pointed. the ears short, md the
horEs like toy ones, and very delicate
and slender, being less than two
niche. i'll heiEat, highly polished, snd
Jet black.
"Quite as mach of a p:gmyis> .hc
Sultana antelope; found iu che hlly re-
gions OF Abysslnis.. Its height 1t the
shoulder is only fourteen Mches; the
horns are extremely thin and about
sour inches long. The young: OF these
midgets;of the hoofsd tribe sre beauti-
nllilittle. creatures, those of the antss
lope being abolt eight inches long
when born, and with their s~ci1-eolored
far. delicate pipe-atem-like lirabs, large
aadieNprsssive eyes. they are. perhaps
the most attractivs.ot any OF the minute
animals. Ihave,' continued the artist.
NEARLY all these interesting creatures
in.my collection, and when placed. to-
gether they present IA striking and in
teresting appearance. telling Is story on
tie Observation-Disclosures 10 vshich the
various forms of life are subject I ana
going to make a model of each, one,for
a.private museum. and they are to be-
plhced in contrast: with thee giants
Thus the oigmy whale will TO placed
beside the right whale. the small ela>
phant nest to the giant-mammoth, ard
soon in tais way tie great extremes al
lie are shown att a glance. ~ y.
Past.