54 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



ancestor. Some of these Somali asses are, it is true, more 

 striped on the legs than is commonly the case with the 

 domesticated breed ; but then some examples of the latter 

 are nearly or quite as fully marked as the wild race, while 

 some African specimens have nearly uniformly coloured 

 limbs. Possibly the Somali wild ass may originally have 

 ranged into Syria and Arabia ; and, in any case, it is 

 probable that it was first tamed there, and thence intro- 

 duced into Europe. Indeed, the Greek name (onos) of the 

 ass is stated to be derived from a Semitic root ; and since 

 this name occurs but once in the " Iliad," and not at all 

 in either the " Odyssey " or in Hesiod, it has been inferred 

 that the ass was a rare and little-known animal in Greece 

 during the epic period. 



Whether any truly wild horses have survived till 

 modern times has been disputed. With the exception of 

 the Mongolian Przewalski's horse, which does not seem 

 specifically distinct from the domesticated Equiis cabal/us, 

 the only animals which can lay claim to that title are the 

 so-called tarpan of the steppes of Central Asia, which for- 

 merly ranged as far westward as the Volga, but are now 

 exterminated. Some authorities are of opinion that these 

 tarpan are a truly wild race, while by others they are 

 regarded as feral — that is to say, descended from a domes- 

 ticated stock. It is certain that the droves of tarpan 

 at times received an influx of feral animals ; but whether 

 they were feral or truly wild — and the evidence seems 

 rather in favour of their wild origin — they undoubtedly 

 resembled the ancestral type of the horse. This, of course, 

 will be due in the one case to reversion, and in the other 

 to direct inheritance. They were rather small, clumsily 

 built animals, with remarkably ugly heads ; their general 

 colour being dun. During the Pleistocene period horses 



