iv WILD AND DOMESTIC FORMS 159 



1593 ' m Prussia and Alsace, while Gaspard de 

 Saunier mentions their existence in 1711 in the 

 forests between Dusseldorf and Wosel, where he 

 had hunted this animal. And a few years ago the 

 celebrated Russian explorer, Prjevalsky, discovered 

 in Dzungaria a wild species, which has been named 

 Equus Prjevalskii, and which seems to occupy a 

 place between the horse and the ass. Wild asses 

 have been seen by Prjevalsky in Kokonor, and by 

 others in Africa, near Obock. In Egypt Marco 

 Polo and Pallas found the wild camel, which, nearer 

 us, Prjevalsky discovered near Lake Lob-nor. The 

 wild form of the llama seems to be the guanaco ; 

 the American caribou seems to be the wild form of 

 the reindeer, and the Asiatic moufflon (Ovibos musi- 

 mon) is considered as the wild form of our sheep, 

 while wild goats are found in the Himalaya, buffaloes 

 in Asia and Africa, and the yak in Asia, and oxen 

 in Africa only, as they have now disappeared in the 

 wild state from Europe and Asia, where they for- 

 merly existed. Some points are, however, doubtful. 

 Concerning the sheep, we cannot exactly tell whether 

 our domestic form is derived from any one of the 

 present wild forms or from the crossing of two or 

 more, or from an extinct species ; and as to horses, 

 while they were very abundant in the wild state 

 during the neolithic period, when they were used as 



