442 THE MULTIPLE ORIGIN OF HORSES AND PONIES. 



of indigenous varities. in nil pi-obability meant the introduction of 

 yet other A'arieties. 



I ma}' here repeat that now, as throughout the nineteenth century, 

 it is generally assumed that all the domestic breeds — small as well as 

 large — have sprung from a single wild species. The great French 

 naturalist Cuvier believed not only that all living horses belonged 

 to one species (the Kqunx cahdlliiH of Linnteus), but also that there 

 was no specific difference between living breeds and the fossil horses 

 of the Pleistocene period. Professor Sanson, of the French National 

 College of Agriculture, in his Traite de Zootechnie- (1901), assmning 

 a single origin for domestic breeds, divides recent horses into tAvo 

 groups — a long-headed and a short-headed group — each of which 

 consists of several races, while Captain Ha^^es, in his recently pub- 

 lished Points of the Horse (1904), says, " no breed of horses possesses 

 any distinctive characteristic which serves to distinguish it from 

 other breeds,"" and adds that '^ as a rule locality * * * ;jj^,| arti- 

 ficial selection are the chief factors in the formation of breeds."" 

 Elsewhere Captain Hayes states: "As far as I can learn, no attempt 

 has been made to separate ponies from horses except on the purel}' 

 artificial basis of height.'"' « Kven those who are prepared to admit 

 that recent horses may have sprung from several Avild species allege 

 that, owing to domestication, intercrossing, and artificial selection, 

 it is no longer possible to indicate the distinguishing characters of 

 the two or more wild species which took part in forming the present 

 races and breeds. 



THE WILD HORSE {Eqiiiii^ cahdllii!^ prjevalskU). 



The wild hoi'se may be first considered. For many 3'ears the 

 semiwild Tari)an of the Russian steppes was regarded as the nearest 

 living relative of the w^ild ancestor of the domestic breeds, but in 

 1881 the existence of a true wild horse was announced by the Russian 

 naturalist Poh'^akov. This horse occurs in the vicinity of the Gobi 

 Desert and the Great Altai Mountains, one variety living to the 

 southeast, another to the west, and a third to the south of Kobdo. 

 All three varieties are of a yellow-dun color, the southeastern (Zagan- 

 Nor) form being especially characterized by a dark nuizzle, dark 

 points, and a dark mane and tail; in the western (Urungu) variety 

 the nnizzle is nearly white, the limbs are light down to the fetlocks, 

 %ind the nuine and tail are of a reddish-brown tint, the southern 

 (Altai) form being nearly intermediate in its coloration. The 

 markings consist of a narrow dorsal band, faint indications of shoul- 

 der sti'ipes, and indistinct bars in the region of the knees and hocks. 



a Points of the Horse, pp. 422^25. 



