288 The Field Naturalisf s Quarterly November 



horses were to be met with not only in Central Asia, but 

 also in Europe and Africa. But ere the middle of the 

 nineteenth century was reached, naturalists were beginning 

 to question the existence of genuine wild horses; and some- 

 what later, the conclusion was arrived at that the horse had 

 long " ceased to exist in a state of nature." 1 



This view had barely been accepted by zoologists, when 

 it was announced from St. Petersburg that a true wild horse 

 had at last been discovered in Central Asia by the cele- 

 brated Russian traveller, Prjevalsky. 



An account of this horse was communicated by Polia- 

 koff in i 88 1 to the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. 2 

 The material at Poliakoff's disposal being limited, zoologists 

 were not at once disposed to admit that Prjevalsky 's horse, 

 as it came to be called, deserved to rank as a distinct 

 species. Some believed the new horse had no more claim 

 for a place amongst wild forms than the mustangs of the 

 Western prairies or the brumbies of the Australian bush ; 

 while others asserted it was merely a hybrid between the 

 Kiang (Equus hemionus) and a Mongolian or other Eastern 

 pony. 



As far as I can gather, it is generally believed in 

 England that Prjevalsky's horse is a hybrid — a cross 

 between a pony and a Kiang. Beddard, however, admits 

 it may be a distinct type. He says : " This animal has 

 been believed to be a mule between the wild ass and a feral 

 horse ; but if a distinct form — and probability seems to 

 urge that view — it is interesting as breaking down the 

 distinctions between horses and asses." 3 



It must be admitted that in its mane and tail Prjevalsky's 

 horse is strongly suggestive of a hybrid, but in the short 

 mane and mule-like tail we may very well have a persistence 

 of ancestral characters — in the wild asses and zebras the 

 mane is always short, and they never have long persistent 

 hairs at the proximal end of the tail. 



1 Bell's British Quadrupeds. 



2 A translation of Poliakoff's paper will be found in the Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History, iSSl. See also Tegetmeier and Sutherland's Horses, Asses, 

 and Zebras. 



3 Beddard, Mammalia, p. 240. Macmillan, 1902. 



