THE PRJEVALSKY HORSE. 65 



in my article in tlie *S'^. PeUrsburgskija W jedomosti. The 

 occurrence of shoulder stripes, exceedingly interesting features of 

 the Prjevalsky horse, can no longer be doubted. 



The resemblance of E. prjevahkii to any of the varieties of the 

 domestic horse is still open to question, since the material for 

 making such a comparison, by which alone the question could be 

 settled, is yet insufficient in amount. It is very possible that the 

 Prjevalsky horse has an affinity to the pony, still it is my opinion 

 that it is yet too early to regard the resemblance, with Noack, as 

 " irrefutably proved." At any rate, E. prjevahkii jDossesses so 

 large a number of characters which were probably peculiar to the 

 common ancestor of the horse and the ass, and which are still 

 present in the ass (formation of the tail, shoulder stripe, character 

 of the mane, absence of the fore-lock), that we must take for 

 granted a form intermediate between the Prjevalsky horse and the 

 domestic horse. It is quite jjossible that such a transition form 

 occurs among fossil horses, to which, according to Noack, E. 

 2)rjevahhii has much resemblance. 



To Professor Noaok's assertion that " thanks to the negligence 

 of Russian zoologists no skin and no skeleton (of Tarpan) exists," 

 I can make the same rejoinder that I have already given to 

 Matschie. A skeleton of the Tarpan is in existence, and has been 

 measured and described by J. D. Czerski in his monograph, Ueher 

 die posttertidren Sdugethiere Sibiriens, which, though well 

 known in Russia, is unfortunately still unknown to both Matschie 

 and Noack. 



Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey, 



