l] OF THE EQUIDAE 3 



the Breton in France, whilst finally his sequanius is identical 

 with the Percheron so highly esteemed in France. 



M. Pietrement^ adopted Sanson's principle of an eightfold 

 subdivision, but carefully restricted the term species to Equus 

 caballus, describing the eight classes as races^ But not be- 

 lieving that the argument based on geographical distribution 

 was of itself sufficient he rejected Sanson's africanus, and on 

 the grounds that Sanson admitted that his asiaticus originated 

 in central Asia, he assumes that it was primarily domesticated 

 by the Aryans, and accordingly terms it aryanus to distinguish 

 it from what he holds to be the other Oriental race (wrongly 

 regarded as African by Sanson). As Pietrement considers that 

 the latter was domesticated in central Asia by the Mongolian 

 or Tartar-Finnish peoples, and that it was brought thence by 

 the Hyksos into Egypt, he gives it the name of mongolicus. 

 The aryanus and the mongolicus of Pietrement thus corre- 

 spond respectively to the asiaticus and the africanus of 

 Sanson. It will however be observed that Pietrement's nomen- 

 clature is based on several unproved assumptions ; first, that 

 the original home of the Aryans was in central Asia, secondly, 

 that the Dongola horse was brought into Africa from Asia 

 some two thousand years before Christ, thirdly, that it was the 

 Hyksos who brought it there, and fourthly, that the Hyksos 

 were Mongols. We shall presently see grave reasons for doubt- 

 ing the validity of the grounds on which M. Pietrement has 

 based his terminology. 



Darwin- rejected not only Hamilton Smith's five stirpes, 

 but also Sanson's E. c. africanus on the ground that the 

 latter involved the assumption " that osteological characters are 

 subject to very little variation, which is certainly a mistake," 

 and he was thus inclined to follow those naturalists who " from 

 the fertility of the most distinct breeds when crossed, look at 

 all the breeds as having descended from a single species," and 

 he held^ " that it is not probable that each larger breed, which 

 in the course of time has supplanted a previous and smaller 



1 Les Chevaux prehistoriques et historiques, pp. 13 sqq. 



2 Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. i. pp. 53-4 (ed. 2). 



3 Ibid. Vol. II. p. 423. 



1—2 



