hairs, above a
quarter of an inch in length, on the tips of their ears; and this same
peculiarity, according to Mr. Blyth, characterises some cats in India. The
great variability in the length of the tail and the lynx-like tufts of
hairs on the ears are apparently analogous to differences in certain wild
species of the genus. A much more important difference, according to
Daubenton,[99] is that the intestines of domestic cats are wider, and a
third longer, than in wild cats of the same size; and this apparently has
been caused by their less strictly carnivorous diet.

* * * * *

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CHAPTER II.

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 latter part of the Stone period.[100] At the present time
the number of breeds is great, as may be seen by consulting any treatise on
the Horse.[101] 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 with each separate island in the great Malay
archipelago.[102] Some of the breeds present great differences in size,
shape of ears, length of mane, proportions of the body, form of the withers
and hind quarters, and especially in the head. Compare the race-horse,
dray-horse, and a Shetland pony in size, configuration, and disposition;
and see how much greater the difference is than between the six or seven
other living species of the genus Equus.

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Of individual variations not known to characterise particular breeds, and
not great or injurious enough to be called monstrosities, I have not
collected many cases. Mr. G. Brown, of the Cirencester Agricultural
College, who has particularly attended to the dentition of our domestic
animals, writes to me that he has "several times noticed eight permanent
i