THE PRJEVALSKY HORSE. 59 



of ftll attempts to tame the Prjevalsky horse agrees with what is 

 known of the specimens which have been brought into Russia. 

 These also cannot be tamed. Still there are facts known which 

 indicate that there is yet hope of the horses being tamed. P. K. 

 Kozlov * saw a six-month foal, belonging to the Van of Ljuks- 

 chin, which had been so far tamed as to go well in a bridle, and 

 mount with ease a stairway leading to the second floor, and also to 

 allow the seven or eight year old son of the Van's to sit on its 

 back. 



The Zoological Position of Equus Prjevalskii. 



The appearance of Poliakof's work on E. prjevaJshii evoked the 

 most contradictory views among West European specialists. At 

 one time, the question of the existence of the wild horse was 

 decided in the negative. The nature of the Tarpan, which still 

 lived in Russia a few decades ago, and which was recognised by 

 many as an European wild horse, was not clear ; and, indeed, can 

 still be counted as not settled. Two eminent specialists of 

 hippology, Pietrement and Sanson, arrived at the conclusion that 

 the wild horse had become extinct in prehistoric times : they, 

 therefore, received Poliakof's discovery with distrust. Pietrement 

 opposed the inclusion of the Prjevalsky horse in the same species of 

 Eqmis to which E. cahaUus belongs ; and did so on the grounds 

 that the root of the tail of the wild horse is covered with short 

 hair, a peculiarity indicating an affinity to the onager. The doubt 

 as to the position of the Prjevalsky horse as a separate species of 

 Equus was called forth because (1) this species was founded on 

 one single specimen, and (2) the specimen was not full-grown. 

 Flower f said : " Until more specimens are obtained it is difficult 

 to form a definite opinion as to the validity of the species, or to 

 resist the suspicion that it may not be an accidental hybrid between 

 the kiang and the horse." A similar opinion was held by Hahn.J 

 On the other hand, Tegetmeier and Sutherland § held that such 



* Tpy4H 3Kcne4niiiH IlMiicpaTopcKaro PyccK. Teorpa*. OfimecxBa no qempajbHoa 

 A3iB, coBepuieHHofi wh 1893-1895 rr. no4T> HanajbCTBOMi B. H. PodoposcKaro. 

 HacTb II. 1899. 



f Flower. The Horse (Modern Science series. Edited by Sir John Lubbock). 

 1891. p. 79. 



X Halin. Die Hausthiere und Hire Beziehungen cur Wirthschaft des Menschen. 



§ Tegetmeier and Sutherland. Horses, Asses, Zebras, Mules and Mule 

 Breeding. 1894. 



