The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-26
WILD AsIATIC HORSES.
Suspicious That q New Species Has
Been Found.


The modern belief is. of, course. that all
these breeds carriage. 'draught and race
horses) are mere varieties sof one species.
and that species Is believed to pc tne
wild horse-the Eqifus caballus-of mid
Asia r. Lydekker IN prominent British
uaturalist) has of tate days been making
o study Of a new species Of horse. speci-
mems Of which are now restdent at Wo-
e en BY tie Duke q kedford Il would
seem that some twenty years gone by
certain Coienef Pfsewalski came across
a. horse in the deserts Of Mongolia which
honor OF it's discoverer. From the first
naturalists suspected that this horse was
a species distinct Of itself. and therefore
not mere variety of the; ordinary wild
Later on others came to hand: and from
an examination Of the cardinal points
Of the animal the idea Of Its distinct ma
ture was strengthened. The. Duke Of
colts OF PrsewaIskis horse They were
bought from that king, of dealers. Mr..
Carl Hagelbeck OF. Hamburg. Therefore,
NSnglsh biologists will have the oppor-
fiesh as living entity. and doubtless
when death overtakes any member Of the
herd its body will be handed over to
science for the due anatomical examina-
The colts are described as having been
born last year. They resemble ponies
rather than horses, and the opinion is
expressed that In size the mature crtA-
ture will not exhibit large proportions
The fact Of this character appearing In
a wild race would argue In favor OF Its
probably representing distinct species
that IL to say. a race of horses which
may be presumed to be natural group
is entitled to have its size regarded as
one of its own special features. The
muzzles are white In eleven out of the
twelve colts at Wob I'm The cars are
short. and the tails Mr.. *Lydekker de-
scribes as beinsNweiI provided with hair
to near the roots, There are. however.
variations to be noted in the conforma-
ton of the tail. The winter coat is of
dun hue. while darker color prevails on
the front of the legs. Name and tail are
also dark coIored. The name stands up
right, but II also described as tending to
fall over. The forelock Is not well de.
veloped nor IL the dark stripe along the
back seen In the horse family at large
well marked The. calloslties or horny ex-
crescences seen on the legs of horses and
asses exist In the case Of Przewalskfs
horse on both fore and hind legs.
With regard 60, the hoofs, these are
noted to be of the larger proportions
which distinguish the horses from the
ass tribe. Taking the while history Of
this horse Into account as far as It can
be detailed ,atfpresent. the opinion may
be held that, as Mr.. Lydekker puts 1t.
the ordinary wild horse. the Kiang or
Asiatic wild ass and Przewalskrs horse
constitute OF themselves the true horses.
while the ordinary asses and zebras with
the African wild ass. form a second and
different group Of the family. In these
true horses shoulder stripe Is usually
wanting. asAalso are dark markings on
the legs.
! This is an interesting record of the fam
lily history OF our good friend the horse.
But there are other phases of its history
that are even more remarkable than those
which relate TO its living neighbors How
many people know. for example. that the
horse is 6ne-toed animal. and that 1t
walks on the third toe of each foot, which
has its nail in the shape of the hoof?
When we examine the skeleton of the
horses leg-fore or hind leg-we see this
single toe. which Is The third. and cor
responds. therefore, to the middle digit
on our hand and foot Or each side of
| this well developed toe are two splint
| bones which are rudiments Of two miss
| ing toes. the second and four II II be
asked how we know this. ! reply. first,
| because occasionally horses are born with
| the second and fourth toes fairly devei-
| oped, and second, because the geological
| history of the horse supplies us with all
| the missing links from the one toed horse
| Of today backward to the five toed an
| cestor from which all the horses have
| been evolved. No doubt exists on this
point. for in our museums and especially
| in American colleeti )ns-the fossil horses
| nj that continent being nLmerous-we
have the whole pedigree Of the animal set
/ up before our eyes.