grandparents was of impure blood) saving his distance in running two miles
with thoroughbred racers." Some few instances are on record of seven-eights
racers having been successful.) It is notorious that the Arabs have long
been as careful about the pedigree of their horses as we are, and this
implies great and continued care in breeding. Seeing what has been done in
England by careful breeding, can we doubt that the Arabs must likewise have
produced during the course of centuries a marked effect on the qualities of
their horses? But we may go much farther back in time, for in the Bible we
hear of studs carefully kept for breeding, and of horses imported at high
prices from various countries. (2/29. Prof. Gervais 'Hist. Nat. Mamm.' tome
2 page 144 has collected many facts on this head. For instance Solomon (1
Kings x. 28) bought horses in Egypt at a high price.) We may therefore
conclude that, whether or not the various existing breeds of the horse have
proceeded from one or more aboriginal stocks, yet that a great amount of
change has resulted from the direct action of the conditions of life, and
probably a still greater amount from the long-continued selection by man of
slight individual differences.

With several domesticated quadrupeds and birds, certain coloured marks are
either strongly inherited or tend to reappear after having been lost for a
long time. As this subject will hereafter be seen to be of importance, I
will give a full account of the colouring of horses. All English breeds,
however unlike in size and appearance, and several of those in India and
the Malay archipelago, present a similar range and diversity of colour. The
English race-horse, however, is said (2/30. 'The Field' July 13, 1861 page
42.) never to be dun-coloured; but as dun and cream-coloured horses are
considered by the Arabs as worthless, "and fit only for Jews to ride"
(2/31. E. Vernon Harcourt 'Sporting in Algeria' page 26.), these tints may
have been removed by long-continued selection. Horses of every colour, and
of such widely different kinds as dray-horses, cobs, and ponies, are all