The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-03-20

| striped, with the hog named, blunt-nosed tar
pan of the steppes north of the Azof Sea, and
with the kulan, djiggetai and kiang stretch
| ing from the KiTghiz plains along tue northern
border of the Himalaya to the Chinese from
tier. These three forms are probably, as Brehm
aud George suppose specifically indentical. al
though they may, from influences exerted by
the photographic features of their extended
| range, exhibit more or less distinctly marked
local differences. Ecker insists that the tarpan
is the typical representative of the original
Asiatic wild horse, and that il is anatomcally,
TO All inteDts and purposes the same animal
whose bones have been found among the pleis-
toccne fossil cXuviR at Solutre. But from tho
time of Pallas TO the present day BIOLOGISTS
have been at variance about equine classliica-
ton, and leaving the question whether those
steppe horses who skirt the stony girdle OF
the world are distinct species, rs Poliakot
maintains, or merely geographical varieties
let us turn TO observations of the animal maze
by men whose minds were not troubled 10y taxi
nomical pcrplexitics. Before doing So how
ever, it may be said that the apparent differ
ences We are accustomed 10 see manifested by
the horse aud ASS scarcely exist in nature
Wild horses are, as 4 rule,
RELATIVELY SMALL ANIMALS,
while the wild ass is commonly large one;
and taking the usual diagnoStiC characters
which are said 10 mark Equus caballus and
Asinus, IL will he lonnd that none are con-
slant. Both have the dorsal stripe, and both
may be of the same color size and general con
formation of head body and limbs. The Airi-
can quagga and the allied form from the high
lands, the true zebra, together with Burcheils
hOrse-like zebra of the plains have within
the limits of the group stated, tails like domes-
tic, fera. and those wild horses of the Lob Nor
which were seen by Col. Preievalsky, aud also
like that of the ass; while the short name OF
Flaa.e L.. 4. nlg n
the Syrian ass and TO that of the Soudan may
give place TO one that is long and sweeping, as
In the Mongol dzerlik-adu. Finally an animal
L prZewalskli--has recently been found IN
the deserts of Central Asia, with name aud
tail like asinus, but possessing all those calloS-
tics on the inner side of the fore and hind
limbs which have been generally regarded as
peculiar TO the horse.
That Thibctan form of wild horse which
Mai. Levcson encountered on the shores of the
Cho0marera Lake is. according TO his account,
" about IL hands at the shoulder, aud resembles
the ass much more than the nOhler quadrupeds.
They are generally OF reddish gray, with
dark stripe down tho back, ana almost white
under the belly and inside the legs" That is to
say, OF nearly the same hue and OF similar mark
ings with the African wild ass i, taniopus)
described 10y Sir Samuel Baker. aud which he
found distributed through the deserts between
the Nile and the Red Sea. In the kiang, con-
tinueS Leveson, the head is large aud ugly,
the name hogged. and they are usually cat
BANNED There is a great similarity between
the South African quagga and the kiang IN
general appearance Further, this morse,
which kinloch, Wilson and Mark ham describe
as having no fear of man, but, on the contrary,
as following the hunter of wild sheep about
and frightening away his game notwithstand-
ing the fact that IL ID often pays for its intru
sivencss and curiosity with its life, is nearly
identical physically with that widest, waricst
and switcst of unreclaimed equdg, the tgnio-
pus OF the SOudan. and is likewise the con
gener OF those blacktailed- and named bay
horses Of the Lob Nor, who are SO shy, says
Prejevalsky, that " when frightened they will
continue their flight for days, not returning to
the same place Tor year or two" Certainly
there arc here likcnesses between creatures
assumed to be different aud differences among
those which are said to be the same, which
seem sufficient, when .aken together with
strong structural resemblance, and dissimi-
laTitles that are relatively important. TO per-
pick systematic biologists and confuse their
cOunses.
THE TAETAEs NEVER DoMEsTIcATE THE
KIASG,
Coz. Markham asserts, and being for the most
part unmole5ted by man the creature has no
more fear OF him than IL would have of any
other animal whom experience had not warned
il against. Likewise the same incxperience
causes the Thibetan variety To be indifferent to
the sound and effects OF firearms. Sander
son has recorded several instances ia which
he observed that animals uuaccustomcd to the
pursuit Of European sportsmen mistook, as he
supposed, the explosion of a heavy rife for
thunder and lightning II wouid appear from
Mark hams experience that the same error
which was made by elephants and tigers in
remote forest tracts, aud by hall bears and wild
hogs who inhabit little-knOwn parts Of the
Himalayan highlands, was also shared by the
wild horse. Al ali events an intrusive kiang
was on one occasion severely wounded by one
81 his companions, aud instead of attempting
10 escape, IL walked slowly toward the party
with au air OF ast0Bishment aud distress, such
a. Ia future cHcctuaily protected any OF its
companions from meeting with like treatment.
In reading the accounts given by Pallas
Brehm, Gmclin etc, of the various species or
races of Equida distributed throughout the
Asiastic steppos from the Caspian aud Dncipcr
on tue west 10 The plateaus Of Thbet on the
east, there seems 10 be an organic oscillation
among them between our conventional asiuine
form, Oh the one hand and that Of tho horse
as we know him, upon the other The period
al which the latter was domesticatcd is un-
known,
But IT WAS UNDOUBTEDLY VERY REMOTE
Likewise the continent where his reeama
ton occurred u, OF all others, that whose
peoples have known the most violent aud fire.
quent yicissitudes and whose subaerial surface
has been most frequently changed from physi-
cal causes. Vast stretches Of desert were once
populated aud fertile. and from these, as from
the deserted colony in Buenos Ayres in l537,
animals which bad been wholly or partially
domesticated may have been set free. Given
favorable conditions. aud the increase might
have egBalled that which occurred ia America,
where ali Of the immense unube aud yatie-
ties Of our fcTal horses are the progeny Of five
Audalusiau stations and seven mares There
j.. however, this difference between the situa.
ton Of such cHfrauchIzed animals as supposed
10 have existed IN Asia and those which are
known to have pf0pagated their race here,
namely that ~ the latter case, the variations
/ which subsequently occurred, and by which
! geographical groups are Disseminated, were
/ all due 10 TcycrsiOn and natural selection,
! whereas ia the former instance, atlvism aud
! adjustment were further complicated by an in
/ TERMS IRE Of blood with those indigenous
/ forms which certainly inhabited the steppes
] beforehand. IL il related by Palias aud Rytchoi
! that the tarpan stallion Is IN the habit OF en-
! tcing kirghiz mares away from the herd, and,
I a. Wright observes, there is reason why the
wild female might not play the same part To-
wards the dOmcsticated horse. The results, 80
j far as the appearance Of their progeny IN con.
/ cerned, would be quite different in these cases