Vlll 



INTRODUCTION. 



dorsal band was present, but there were at the most only the 

 merest vestiges of stripes on the shoulders and legs. This made 

 it all the more difficult to decide what position the wild Mongolian 

 horse should occupy in the Equidse family. 



When sufficient material was available Dr. W. Salensky, of the 

 Zoological Museums of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. 

 Petersburg, set about finding out how this new horse was related 



Photo by'i [w. p. DANDO. 



Fig. I. — Young Prjevalsky horses on their arrival from Mongolia. 



(From Hayes' " Points of the Horse.") 



to the other Equidae. By studying the external characters, teeth 

 and skeleton, he eventually arrived at the conclusion " that E. 

 PrjevalsMi is a separate form — species or race — of the genus 

 Equus ; equivalent to the other species or races, such as the 

 kiang, the onager, the ass, etc.," and that it " is of extraordinary 

 interest, since, in it, the characters of the domestic horse (presence 

 of callosities on all four limbs) are mixed with features reminding 

 one of the Asiatic ass." 



