18 THE EXISTING EQUIDAE [CH. 



the preservation of the wild horses, whilst far into the 

 iTth century the horse was hunted in Poland and Lithuania. 

 It is almost certain that many of these horses were merely feral, 

 but it is quite possible that some of the troops contained a 

 genuine wild element, though greatly modified by being crossed 

 with escaped domestic animals. But, as it will soon be seen that 

 one, if not two genuine wild varieties have survived in eastern 

 Europe and eastern Asia down to our own times, it is probable 

 that troops of genuine wild horses may have lingered in parts 

 of Europe down to a comparatively recent date (cf. p. 348). 



Naturalists not unreasonably view with suspicion the sup- 

 posed primitive wildness of the tarpan and Prejvalsky's horse, 

 inasmuch as the baguals of South America, the mustangs of 

 North America, the brumbies of Australia, the kumrahs of 

 Nigeria, and the muzins of Tartary are admittedly feral, whilst 

 it is not unlikely that the same holds true of the wild horses of 

 Northern Tibet. 



(2) E. caballus celticus. Prof. Ewart^ in the paper 

 already mentioned, called attention to the existence of a distinct 

 variety of horse, to which he has provisionally given the name 

 of Equus caballus celticus. It is a true pony, and not a dwarf 

 horse ; it has a small head, with prominent eyes, small ears, 

 a heavy mane, slender limbs, small joints, and well formed small 

 hoofs. It has similar characteristics to those Arabs Avhich 

 have no ergots, and at the most only minute hock callosities, 

 but with the essential difference that instead of having long 

 hair up to near the root of the tail, the hair on the upper pai-t 

 of the tail forms a fringe or taillock (Fig. 11). It has been found 

 in Connemara and the north of Ireland, in Barra and other 

 islands of the Outer Hebrides, and seems to have been common 

 at one time in the island of Tiree, where ponies are now 

 extinct, whilst the same characteristics are observed in many 

 of the ponies imported into this country from Iceland and 

 the Faroe Isles, a fact of considerable importance when we 

 come to discuss the history of the horses of the North at a 



1 Times, Tuesday, 2 Dec, 1902, p. 10 ; for a fuller abstract see Nature, 

 Vol. Lxvii. (1903), p. 239 ; "The Multiple Origin of Horses and Ponies " (Trans, 

 of Highland Society, 1904), pp. 19 sqq. 



