Il] THE EXISTING EQUIDAE 33 



I have given this long extract because the account which 

 it contains of the habitat, the colour, the appearance and habits 

 of the true wild Tarpan, and the respects in which it differed 

 from the feral or intermixed herds has a most important 

 bearing on our present discussion. 



It is to be carefully noted that the Kirghis and Cossacks 

 from whom Hamilton Smith obtained his information respecting 

 the true wild Tarpan, maintained that the pure wild horses 

 were only to be found in that very region where Prejvalsky 

 obtained the skin of one killed by the Kirghis camel-hunters, 

 where the brothers Grijimailo shot their specimens, and where 

 the Kirghis have captured the numerous foals imported by 

 Mr Hagenbeck. It is further to be remarked that the young 

 wild horses obtained by Mr Hagenbeck differ in colour ac- 

 cording to the three different localities from whence they were 

 procured, and that the foals from the western district have 

 their heads, necks, ears, shoulders, back and croup a light red, 

 passing into whitish colour, the nose, the chest, the belly and 

 the legs being of a whitish colour, whilst the mane is light red- 

 brown, the eel-back is pink, ending in the tuft of the tail, the 

 curled hairs of which are light red-brown, white and black, 

 whilst the upper short-haired portion of the tail shows a 

 whitish colour. The foals further east have light ashy-brown 

 hair on the upper part of the body, the nose and under side 

 are white, just the same as the foals from the west, only the 

 outside of the legs being slightly tinted, whilst the fetlocks 

 are black. The mane and spine are a deep brownish colour, 

 and the beard also. The western foals have a whitish iris, 

 the more eastern have a darkish iris. The foals from the 

 most easterly district (Zagan-norr Lake) have a coat of a full 

 yellowish-brown colour, only interrupted by the white belly 

 hair and the distinct black bands at the outside of the legs 

 from the black hair of the fetlocks to above the hock. The 

 nose is white, the mane and the curled hair of the tail are 

 black, and the spine is an intense red-brown colour, the lower 

 jaw beard is of a reddish colour. All these foals bear a more 

 or less curled coat, which is also to be seen on the legs ; the 

 eye is blackish. Let us now compare these descriptions with 

 R. H. 3 



