London before the nineteenth century, just as they are to-day at Gloucester. It would be interesting to know exactly when they ceased to appear in the Thames. A curious fact, however, is that young eels-not so small as "elvers," but from three inches in length upwardsare taken close above London even to-day. Four years ago I obtained a number of this small size from Teddington. The question arises as to whether these specimens represent just a small number of elvers which have managed to swim through the foul water of London and emerge into the cleaner part of the river above. This is improbable. It is more likely that they have come into the Thames by travelling up other rivers such as the Avon-which are connected by cuttings with the Thames tributaries. But it certainly is remarkable that eels of only three inches in length-and therefore very young-should have managed to get not merely "into" the Thames (to the upper parts of which no doubt many thus travel and remain during growth), but actually "down" the Thames so far in the direction of its tidal water as is Teddington lock. The specimens from Teddington were placed by me in the Natural History Museum.

X

MODERN HORSES AND THEIR ANCESTORS

TH

HE ever-increasing development of motor traffic leads to speculation as to what is to be in the immediate future the fate of the horse. What is its history in the past?

It is in nearly all cases a matter of great difficulty to trace the animals and plants which mankind has domesticated or cultivated to the original wild stock from which they have been derived. Lately we have gained new knowledge on the origin of the domesticated breeds of the horse. It is generally agreed that the Mongolian wild horse represents the chief stock from which the horses of Europe and those conveyed by Europeans to America were derived. This wild horse was formerly known as inhabiting the Kirghiz steppes, and was called the Tarpan. It became extinct there some seventy years ago. The natives of that district asserted that the pure breed was only to be met with farther East in the Gobi Desert of Central Asia. The Tarpan itself showed signs of mixed blood in having a mouse-coloured coat, which is a sure indication amongst horses of cross-breeding. Prevalsky, a Russian traveller, was the first to obtain specimens of the pure-bred wild horse of the Gobi Desert, which still exists. Live specimens have been brought to Europe, and some are in the possession of the Duke of

Bedford, A female is mounted and exhibited in the Natural History Museum, and also a skeleton and skulls. Prevalsky's horse, or the Mongolian wild horse, is of small stature, standing about twelve hands at the shoulder. The root of the tail is short-haired, the mane short and upright, without forelock. The body colour is yellow dun, the mane and tail black, as well as the lower part of the legs, and there is a dark stripe down the back. The muzzle in pure-bred specimens is white. The head is relatively large and the muzzle thick and relatively short. A very decided character is shown by the great size and relative length of the row of cheek-teeth, it being onethird larger than the same row of teeth in a Dartmoor pony of the same stature.

A very interesting fact, which goes a long way to establish the view that the European domesticated horse is derived from the Mongolian wild horse, comes to us in a most striking way from some of the most ancient records of the human race. In the South of France the contents of caves formerly inhabited by men have been dug out and examined with increasing care and accuracy of late years, though first investigated fifty years ago. Similar caves, though not so prolific of evidences of human occupation, have been explored in England (Kent's Cavern at Torquay, and others). The astounding fact has now become quite clear that these caves were inhabited by men of no mean capacity from 50,000 to 250,000 years ago, when bone harpoons, flint knives, flint scrapers, and bone javelin-throwers were the chief weapons in use, when these islands were solidly joined to the European continent, when a sheet of glacial ice, alternately retreating and extending, covered the whole of Northern Europe, and when the mammoth, rhinoceros, hyena, lion, bear, bison, great ox, horse, and later the reindeer, inhabited the land and were hunted, eaten, and utilised for their

bone, tusks, and skin by these ancient men. I revert to this subject in a later article (page 371), but would merely say now that it is all as certain and well-established a chapter in man's history as that of the ancient Egyptians, who are really quite modern (dating from 8000 years at most) as compared with these cave-men of 50,000 years ago, and the even earlier races which preceded them in Europe.

The bones of the animals killed and eaten by the cave-men are found in some cases in enormous quantities. In one locality in France the bones of as many as 80,000 horses (which had been cooked and eaten) have been dug up and counted! The most wonderful and extraordinary thing about these cave-men is that they carved complete rounded sculptures, high reliefs, low reliefs, and lineengravings on mammoth's ivory, on reindeer horn, on bones, and on stones-the line-engravings being the latest in date, as shown by their position in the deposits on the floor of the caves, which are often as much as twenty feet or thirty feet in thickness! Not only that, but these carvings are often real works of art, extremely well drawn, and showing not mere childish effort but work which was done with the intention and control of an artist's mind.

An immense number of these carvings are now known. I have before me one of the most recent publications on the subject-a series of plates showing the carvings collected from caves in the Pyrenees, the Dordogne, and the Landes by M. Piette, who recently died. I have examined his collection and others of the same kind in the great Museum of St. Germain, near Paris. We have in London some of the earlier collections, and especially that of the Vicomte de Lastic, to purchase which my old friend Sir Richard Owen journeyed to the Dordogne in the winter of 1864. Many animals, as well as some human beings (Fig. 7), are represented in these carvings-the

mammoth itself, carved on a piece of its own ivory, is among them, and a good many represent the horse (Fig. 8). Now it is a fact that the carvings of the horses of that period undoubtedly represent a horse which is identical in proportions, shape of head, mane, and tail,

with the wild Mongolian horse, and is unlike in those points to modern European horses, or to the Arabian horse.

It was, until the discoveries of M. Piette, held that though the cave-men killed, ate, and made pictures of the

FIG. 7.-Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of an ivory carving (fully rounded) of a female head. The specimen was found in the cavern of Brassempouy, in the Landes. It is of the earliest reindeer period, and the arrangement of the hair or cap is remarkable.

FIG. 8.-Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of a fully rounded carving in reindeer's antler of the head of a neighing horse. The head resembles that of the Mongolian horse. This is one of the most artistic of the cave-men's carvings yet discovered. It is of the Palæolithic age (early reindeer period), probably not less than fifty thousand years old. It was found in the cavern of Mas d'Azil, Ariège, France, and is now in the museum of St. Germain.

horse of those remote days, yet that they did not tame it, put a halter or a bridle on it, and make use of it. Some of the carvings figured by M. Piette leave, however, no room for doubt that the cave-men fitted a bridle to the head and muzzle of the horse. These carvings. (Fig. 9) show a twisted thong placed round the nose and passing near the angle of the mouth where it is possible,