70 
THE HORSES. 
The genus Equus, as established by most authors, may be naturally divided into two separate groups. 
The species of the two groups, that is to say, the Horse and the Zebras, breed together freely in confine- 
ment, but the produce is almost always (if not always) barren. 
EQUUS {Gray), The Horse, 
has the tail covered with hair to the root ; the fur is marked or dappled with round pale spots, leaving a 
dark net-like ground. Both the fore and hind-legs are furnished with hard, horny bodies, called warts 
or chestnuts, on the inner side , they are placed above the knees on the fore-legs and below the hocks 
on the hinder ones. 
The Horse. Equus Cahallus. 
Equus antiquorum, Gesner, Quad. 13 2,— ^mm^ Caballus, Linn. S. N. i.lOO. — Pallas, Z. R. A.i.255. — Gray, Zool. 
Journ. i. 243. — Equus v. Equa, Plin. H. N. — Gesner.— i/orse, Penn. B. Z. i. — Generous Horse, Penn. Quad. — 
Cheval, Buffon, H. N. iv. 174.— Cuvier, R. A. i. 243— Pferd, Ridinger— Ross, Schrank. 
Var. Equiferus, Pallas, Zool. Ross. Asiat. i. 260.— Eichw. Faun. Gasp. Cour. 29— Wild Pferde, S. G. Gmelin, 
Reise Rusland, i. 44. t. 9 (cop. Shaw, Zool. t. 414.— Schreb. t. 109).— Pallas, Reise, i. 211— Takija or 
Wild Horses, Hanway, Hist. Caspian Sea, i. 349.— Bell, Travels, i. 212. 
The figure of the IFi/d Horse, as given by Gmelin, very much resembles the Ponies left at liberty on 
the commons of Cornwall and mountains of Scotland. It appears very doubtful, if they are not rather to be 
considered as domestic horses which have escaped and deteriorated. Pallas observes that the very young 
are easily tamed, but the adult never (Z. R. A. 260). It is to be observed that this is not the case with 
the Horses which have become semi-wild in the rich prairies of America, where they have retained the size 
and form of the well-bred Horse. 
Pallas described three varieties : — 
1. Horse with a curled moustache on the upper lip (Spic. Zool. xi. 5. t. 5. f. 6 ; Zool. Ross. Asiat. i. 250). 
2. Horse covered with curled woolly hair (Falk. Itiner. iii. 529. — Pallas, Zool. Ross. Asiat. i. 250). 
3. Naked Horse of a beautiful form (Pallas, Zool. Ross. Asiat. i. 250). 
4. White, with very close, minute, orbicular, brown spots, called Argamaki in Bocharis. 
ASINUS {Gray), The Zebras, 
have the upper part of the tail covered with short hair and the lower part covered with longer hair, forming 
a tuft, the fur marked with darker stripes ; the fore-legs only furnished with hard, horny warts, situated 
in a similar situation to those in the front-legs of the Horse ; but there are none on the lower part of 
the hinder legs. 
The Wild Kinds have moderately long, rounded ears, and are of a nearly uniform size. The Tame or 
Domesticated kind have elongated, acute ears, and they vary greatly in size and appearance according to 
the climate, being large and smooth-haired in the warmer, and small and shaggy in the colder countries. 
It is very doubtful if the Domestic Ass is found in a truly wild state. The animals which have been 
described as Wild appear rather to be domestic animals which have escaped, or Mules between the Domestic 
