Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-11-29
HORSES PEDIGREE
LONGEST OF ALL.

N'o hiiiS VI liO iCaii, Ilo AdltCI III"
purple be his royal raiment, nor. in fact.
any other human being, can trace his
ancestry as far back as that of the
horse. This animal has the longest pedi-
gree on record; one probably more than
100000 years old, dating back to what
is known as the Eocene age, thousands
of years before the coming of man. His
genealogical tree is shown in the Ma
tional Museum. where a series Of feet
and skulls depict some of his more i'm
portant ancestors
The horse of the Eocene, or his fore
bear, rather, was known as Eohippus,
or Dawn horse. He was about the size
Of fox, standing a little more than
one foot high. Eohppus lived in North
America, where he ran lightfootedly
over the tertiary rocks on his we'll
developed four-toed front feet and
three-toed hind feet. His teeth were
not like those of modern horse, either;
but were short crowned. While scien-
lists are unable to tell us just how long
his name was, if he had any, or the
color of his hide, they do know the
facts mentioned above, for his fossil
remains have been found in the rock
strata known as the lower Eocene,
which is supposed to date back about
100000 years.
His Remarkable Development.
1t is a fortunate thing that little Eo-
hippus experienced the development
that he did. or became specialized. as
the scientists say, for in his early form
little service to us domestically. But
ba lob ;e,
serted that while he is not on the plane
with man mentally. he is more highly
specialized anatomically. His physique
developed as his needs required He
could not fight much. so had to run
away; his speed developed until today
he is seen to be feet-footed, strong, both
for bearing packs and pulling loads, and
to this end his size. feet, teeth and
other parts developed with his advance
down the ages. At his early age, when
he was called Eohuppis. the horse was
a most insignificant creature as COM
pared to his contemporaries, the great
hulking brutes called the 5Uintatheres
and Coryphodonts. But strange as it
may seem, his posterity has outlived
them ala fine example of the sur
vival Of the fittest. The horse is one Of
the best known examples Of the sur
vival Of prehistoric animals.
An exhibit illustrating the develop
ment of the horse is shown in the Ma
tional Museum here. In the halls of the
division of vertebrate paleontology,
which includes all the fossil animals
having backbones. Most of the speci-
mems are complete bones, partly turned
to stone and found imbedded in rock in
several localities in this country. The
earliest known form. the Eohippus,
comes first. showing his four-toed front
feet and his three-toed hind feet, as
well as his teeth and skull of that time.
At the next advanced stage, we find the
bones of a somewhat larger animal of
the Oligocene period about the size of
sheep. with three toes on all it's feet.
The one on the front feet having proved
superfluous. nature saw to it that 1t
disappeared; it's teeth have also adj
vanced a bit, to assist it in feeding, as
may be seen in the exhibition case.
Next, in the Micene, a little later peri
cd. there lived numerous large horses
called Merychippus. Neohipparion, Pro-
tohippus. etc.
Changes in the Foot Bones.
The foot bones OF these animals show
three toes on each foot. but with the
middle toe much larger than it's COM
panions, while the teeth are seen to be
longer and deeper crowned. In fact,
this type begins to look more like reg
ular horse. In the next step, the PHO
Gene. are seen still more specialized
forms, Protohippus and Pliohippus, the
latter. and some other species. having
but single toe on each foot. which
soon developed a single hoof, their ad-
jacent or auxiliary toes having disap-
peared, and only the spints or stumps
remain to be seen on the fossil bones,
vestiges of which may also be seen in
modern horses. He seems to have grown
little larger. also, and more to the
shape of the horse we know. He was
still able to feed, in spite Of his longer
legs, as his neck and Jaws had grown
in proportion, and he could travel at
high rate of speed on hard ground.
True horses occurred in the Pleisto-
Gene period, some forms very closely
resembling the horse Of today, the av-
erage of them little smaller in stat
ure.-Washington Post.