32 1 Zoological Society. 



would have afforded to those strongly disposed to multiply species, 

 some feeble grounds (particularly when I come to notice a point of 

 conformation in the head,) for asserting the right of the Wild Ass of 

 Cutch to the dignity of a specific character, for it will be borne in 

 mind that M. St. Hilaire describes his specimen, which was a native 

 of Cutch ; while in Griffith's Cuvier the description refers to the Dzeg- 

 getai, whose habitat is from southern Siberia to Thibet and China ; 

 and we do not want instances of equally trifling discrepancies having 

 been made available for multiplying species. 



" And now with respect to the animals in the Zoological Gardens, 

 the one being called Dzeggetai, and marked on its ticket Mongolia 

 and Asia; the other known positively as the Wild Ass from Cutch. 

 The first, a male, has been in the possession of the Society since the 

 3rd of March 1832, and was presented to the Society by Captain 

 Glasspoole, R.N. Its birth-place is not known ; but from the nature 

 of Captain Glasspoole's maritime duties, which carried his ship along 

 the coasts Cutch, Scind, and Persia, there is little doubt of its being 

 from one of these states ; and as it is absolutely identical with the 

 animal I am about to speak of, my own judgement is formed on the 

 subject. This creature has long been known in the gardens from its 

 great beauty, its fine condition, its vivacity, and its wickedness. 

 The second animal was sent while quite a colt by an old friend of 

 mine, the British Minister in Cutch, to the Military Auditor General 

 of Bombay. It was allowed for a considerable period, (pending an 

 answer from me, whether or not I would accept of it,) to amuse the 

 children ; it was permitted to attend at breakfast-time, and eat from 

 the table ; but manifesting as it grew up symptoms of ill nature, (no 

 doubt having been heartily teased,) it was put on board the Marquess 

 of Hastings, Captain Clarkson, and brought to England : there can- 

 not therefore be any doubt respecting its origin and its history ; and 

 having one animal certainly from Cutch, we have a positive standard 

 of comparison. Like the preceding, it is a male, and with the ex- 

 ception of being younger and smaller, and with a less short and 

 glossy coat, it is identical with it in every feature ; and these two 

 agree in all essentials with M. St. Hilaire's very able and minute de- 

 scription and coloured figure of a female in the Paris Menagerie. 

 There is one point only in which there may be a difference, and there 

 are two or three others in which there is a difference. M. St. Hi- 

 laire does not state whether the forehead be flat or prominent ; and 

 though the figure represents it to be somewhat raised, it is certainly 

 not so much so as in the animals in the Zoological Gardens : with 

 them the frontal development is a very prominent feature ; such fea- 



