NOTES. 571 



Note 25, p. 115. — Ancestry of the horse. 



See Sir W. H. Mower's little book on The Horse (Modern Science 

 Series). The kulan or kiang is rather a wild ass than a wild horse, and 

 the balance of evidence in favour of regarding the Tarpan as in the line 

 of ancestry is greater than Brehm indicates. Flower suggests that Prze- 

 walski's horse, discovered some years ago in Central Asia, and looked upon 

 as a distinct species, may be a hybrid between the kiang and the tarpan. 



Note 26, p. 116. — Ancestors of the cat and the goat. 



It is very generally believed that our domestic cat is descended from 

 the sacred Egyptian or Caffre cat {Felis caffra). See St. George Mivart's 

 monograph on the cat. Similarly, the breeds of domestic goat are often 

 referred to the Pasang or Capra cegagrus, found in Crete, Asia Minor, 

 Persia, &c. See a vivid essay by Buxton in his Short Stalks, entitled " The 

 Father of all the Goats "- 



Note 27, p. WQ.— Wild camels. 



An interesting note on wild camels in Spain — a strayed herd — is to be 

 found in Wild Spain by Chapman and Buck. St. George Littledale has 

 recently discussed {Proc. Zoological Society, 1894) the question whether 

 the camels of Lob-nor, on the slope of Altyn Tag, are remains of a wild 

 stock or strayed. No wild dromedaries are known, and the same is 

 probably true of camels. 



THE FOEESTS AND SPORT OF SIBERIA. 



See also — 



W. Eadloff, Aus Sibirien, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1884. 



A. Th. von Middendorf, Voyage dans Vextrime Nord et dans Vest de la 

 SiUrie {St. Petersburg, 1848). 



Note 28, p. \^Z.—The Life of the Forest. 



With Brehm's description of this minor forest, the reader should com- 

 pare that which Stanley gives of "The Great Central African Forest" 

 (chap, xxiii. of 2nd vol. of In Darkest Africa). He computes the size of 

 the main mass at 321,057 square miles. A few sentences from his 

 description may be quoted. 



" Imagine the whole of France and the Iberian peninsula closely packed 

 with trees varying from 20 to 180 feet high, whose crowns of foliage 

 interlace and prevent any view of sky and sun, and each tree from a few 

 inches to four feet in diameter. Then from tree to tree run cables from 

 two inches to fifteen inches in diameter, up and down in loops and 

 festoons and W's and badly-formed M's ; fold them round the trees in 

 great tight coils, until they have run up the entire height like endless 

 anacondas ; let them flower and leaf luxuriantly, and mix up above with 



