ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



913 



Fig. t. THE KIAXG, OF TIBET 



From photograph by the Duchess of Bedford, 

 made in Woburn Park 



portion of the tail, of buff or dun color, tra- 

 versed by the vertical stripe. There is a vast 

 difference between the short, smooth and rather 

 handsome coat of these animals in summer and 

 the rough, shaggy coat of the winter, when a 

 long beard appears beneath the jaws. 



These animals were formerly widely spread 

 over Europe, between twenty and twenty-five 

 thousand years ago. During the Ice Age, they 

 were among the favorite subjects of the cave 

 men, who represented them with extraordinary 

 fidelity as to all the features we have men- 

 tioned, on the walls of the caves of the Pyre- 

 nees, and of Oordogne and northwestern Spain. 

 Not one of these drawings shows a forelock, 

 and it is remarkable how those prehistoric 

 artists portrayed the rather dull eyes in con- 

 trast with the fierce expression they gave the 

 eyes of the bison. 



The general dun or light-brownish color of 

 the Przewalsky horses conforms to their semi- 

 desert environment, rendering them less con- 

 spicuous, like the now extinct quagga of the 

 Zebra family, which formerly roamed the open 

 plains south of the Limpopo River in the Trans- 

 vaal, South Africa 



But the closest imitation of the wild horse is 

 in the wild ass (Fig. 1) from the Trans- 

 Baikal of Asia, known as the Kiang, a specimen 

 of which was presented to the Society by His 

 Grace the Duke of Bedford. The light under- 

 color of the belly of the wild horse is also seen 

 in the wild ass of Southern Asia (Fig. 6) which 

 ha-, a much lighter color scheme than that of the 

 Przewalsky. Its limbs are also light instead of 

 being dark. It shows, too, the dark, erect mane 

 and black stripe down the back. In fact, this 



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Flo. 



PRZEWALSKY STALLION IN HIS WINTER COAT 



The heavy heard, and the thick, hairy covering of the hody, tail 



and feet, are well adapted to the rigors of the 



north Asiatic climate. 



black stripe down the back so well shown also in 

 the back view of the Grevy Zebra (Fig. 8), is 

 the most universal of all the color markings in 

 the family of horses. 



THE PERSIAN WILD ASS, Equus hemippus 



Fig. (>. Uniform Isabella, or faun-color, with dark dorsal 

 stripe. light colored and slender limbs, lifdit under color and 

 dark, erect mane. This animal differs from the Abyssinian ass. 

 the progenitor of the domesticated asses, in the absence of the 

 shoulder stripes. 



It is difficult to conjecture what advantage 

 this dark brown or black line brings to the ani- 

 mal. In all the accompanying photographs it 

 appears to shade off into the background. 



