1905 - 6 .] 
Professor Ewart on the Tar pan. 
17 
of the new Tarpan (PI. II. 5) is even more remarkable than the 
mane. The dock, which is 27*5 cm. in length, is furnished with 
three kinds of hair. The basal portion for 6 '5 cm. carries fine 
hair nearly circular in section, which, except in the part continuous 
with the dorsal band, is almost colourless ; the middle portion of 
the dock — about 13’75 cm. — carries thicker hair, slightly oval in 
section, with a thick cortex containing in some cases a considerable 
amount of pigment ; from the terminal part of the dock — about 
7*5 cm. — spring coarse black hairs which are now long enough 
to reach the ground. These long hairs are oval in section, have a 
very thick cortex, and only a small central axis or medulla. 
The fine, short, light-coloured hairs (7 ’5-15 cm. in length) at the 
base of the tail form a conspicuous somewhat lozenge-shaped bunch 
(Pl. II. 5) ; the thicker hairs growing from the middle section of 
the dock reach a length of 30 cm. They emerge from under 
the light-coloured root hairs and expand to form a sort of fringe, 
from which escape the relatively few long black hairs of the distal 
part of the dock. 
In having a limited number of long hairs growing from the 
distal end of the dock, this cross-bred pony decidedly differs from 
the Celtic as well as from the forest types of horses. The interest 
of the tail in the Scottish Tarpan is not so much that it suggests 
a mule, as that it has a very striking resemblance to the tail of 
Prejvalsky’s horse (PI. II. 4). The only difference is that in the 
true wild horse the upper or light-coloured section of the tail 
is longer than in the Shetland- Welsh cross, which has, in fact, the 
kind of tail one would expect in a Prejvalsky hybrid in which the 
wild blood was dominant. 
I may here mention that I have had under observation for some 
time two imported Mongol ponies, and a half-bred Mongol colt. 
In both ponies and colt the tail is peculiar — is about intermediate 
between that of the restored Tarpan and a forest horse (PI. III. 
9). Further, in the colt, the mane, though of the usual length, 
keeps clear of the neck. 1 
I may also mention that in a dark brown pony from the Outer 
1 This condition of the mane is not unknown in cross-bred horses, and it 
was specially noticeable in two dun ponies, probably of Spanish descent, which 
I saw last winter in Mexico. 
PROC. ROY. SOC. EDIN. — YOL. XXVI. 
2 
