1903 The Wild Horse 289 



Though a superficial examination may lead one to think 

 with Flower that Prjevalsky's horse is an accidental hybrid, 

 a careful study of the soft parts and skeleton inevitably 

 leads to quite a different conclusion. 



Though failing to understand why so many zoologists 

 persisted in considering the horse of the Great Gobi Desert 

 to be a mule, I decided to breed a number of Kiang-horse 

 hybrids. 



With the help of Lord Arthur Cecil, I succeeded in 

 1902 in securing a male wild Asiatic ass and a couple 

 of Mongolian pony mares, one a yellow-dun, the other 

 a chestnut. "Jacob," the wild ass, was mated with the dun 

 Mongol mare, with a brownish-yellow Exmoor pony, and 

 with a bay Shetland-Welsh pony. The chestnut Mongol 

 pony was put to a light grey Connemara stallion. 



All four mares proved fertile, with the result that 

 three hybrids and a pony foal were obtained. The 

 Exmoor pony and her hybrid foal, aged nine days, are 

 the subject of Mr. Wilmot's photograph. 



It may be mentioned that the Exmoor pony had in 

 1900, and again in 1901, a zebra hybrid, the sire being the 

 P)urchell zebra, " Matopo," used in my telegony experiments. 



In the case of her Kiang hybrid the period of gestation 

 was 335 days (one day short of what is regarded as the 

 normal time), but she carried her 1900 zebra hybrid 357 

 days, three weeks beyond the normal time. The Exmoor- 

 zebra hybrids are as nearly as possible intermediate between 

 a zebra and a pony ; the Kiang hybrid, on the other hand, 

 might almost pass for a pure-bred wild ass. 1 In zebra 

 hybrids the ground colour has invariably been darker than 

 in the zebra parent ; but the Kiang hybrid is decidedly 

 lighter in colour than her wild sire, while in make she 

 strongly suggests an Onager — the wild ass so often asso- 

 ciated with the Runn of Cutch. Alike in make and colour 

 the Kiang hybrid differs from a young Prjevalsky foal. 2 



I have never seen a new-born wild horse; but if one 



1 In Mendelian terms, the Exmoor pony proved recessive^ the wild ass 

 dominant. 



1 For a skin of a very young Prjevalsky foal I am indebted to Mr. Carl 

 Ilagcnbeck of Hamburg. 



