EXHIBIT 31.1

Form
of Quarterly Certification Required

by
Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

I,
John A. Hardy, certify that:



| | 1. | I
    have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Equus Total Return, Inc.;
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| | 2. | Based
    on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material
    fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
    with respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;
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| | 3. | Based
    on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this quarterly report, fairly present
    in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the
    periods presented in this quarterly report;
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| | 4. | The
    registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
    procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and we have:
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| | a. | Designed
    such disclosure controls and procedures. or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
    to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
    us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;
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| | b. | Designed
    such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under
    our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated
    financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
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| | c. | Evaluated
    the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
    about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report based
    on such evaluation;
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| | d. | Disclosed
    in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s
    most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s first fiscal quarter in the case of a quarterly report) that has materially
    affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting,
    and;
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| | 5. | The
    registrant’s other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of the internal control
    over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of registrant’s board of directors
    (or persons performing the equivalent function):
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| | a. | All
    significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting,
    which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
    information; and
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| | b. | Any
    fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s
    internal controls.
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Date:
May 15, 2017

|/s/
    John A. Hardy      
|---------------------------
|John
    A. Hardy          
|Chief
    Executive Officer