140 Field Columbian Museum — Zoology, Vol. i. 



at one time was eight. They prefer sterile, rocky districts, the 

 ground covered either with sand or broken stones, and when 

 hunting them I often wondered what the animals lived on, grass 

 "was so scarce and the blades grew so far apart when a patch was 

 "discovered. Wild Asses are dependent upon water, and they 

 never go far from places where it may be easily obtained, and 

 their tracks were always visible in the vicinity of pools or other 

 sources of supply, showing they came regularly to drink. In 

 spite of their alertness, swiftness and other game qualities, no 

 one, I should imagine, would shoot a Wild Ass for sport, it is too 

 much like slaughtering horses, and after killing the first one, if 

 it had not been for scientific purposes, none of my party or 

 myself would have molested them a second time. The flesh of 

 these animals is very good, almost the best we ate in Somali- 

 land, being more tender and having much more flavor than any 

 of the antelopes. It does not seem to be a very plentiful species 

 even in the country of its nativity, and I should judge it would 

 not require much persecution to speedily extinguish the race. 



SUB-ORDER HYRACOIDEA. 

 FAM. PROCAVIIDiE. 



Procavia brucei somalica (Thomas). 



Procavia brucei somalica. Rock Rabbit. Native name Banna. 



$ Adadleh. 



This curious little animal usually known as Hyrax, Coney or 

 Rock Rabbit, was met with several times amid the rocks generally 

 in the vicinity of the Tugs, or dry bed of the streams. They were 

 very shy and concealed themselves in the holes or crevasses of the 

 rocks, permitting the head, or only a portion of the body to be 

 seen. The specimen brought back was procured at Adadleh just 

 south of the Golis Range, and not far from the Jerato Pass, at an 

 elevation of somewhere near 4,000 feet. It has the elongate 

 whitish dorsal spot, and is of quite a small size, the dimensions 

 being: total length skin about 12.50 inches; front foot, i.io 

 inches; hind foot, beneath, 1.90. The accompanying plate 

 exhibits the skull of this specimen, and the peculiar dentition of 

 this strange genus. Unfortunately, a considerable portion of 

 the left side of the inferior surface, including the posterior por- 

 tion of the palatines, the pterygoid bones, and portions of the 

 alisphenoid, was shot away. The entire upper half of the pos- 

 .terior part of the left ramus has also disappeared. The animal 



