270 EauiB^. 



sauvage, ou sur le veritable Onagre des anciens" (Act. Acad. Sci. 

 Imp. Petrop. 1777, p. 258, 1. 11), figured a Wild Ass which was sent 

 by sea from Derbent to Astracan. The figure greatly resembles the 

 mule between the Hemione and the Ass in the Zoological G-ar- 

 dens ; but the ears appear a trifle longer. It is coloured in the 

 same manner as the Hemione ; that is to say, the more prominent 

 parts of the body are dark, and the middle of the back, the front 

 of the haunches and thigh, and the under part of the body are 

 paler. The figure represents but a very indistinct cross band on the 

 shoulder. 



On this PaUas observes, " L'etalon dififerait encore de la femelle 

 en ce qu'U avait tout le corps plus robuste, I'encolure plus grosse, 

 le poitrail et la croupe plus large, et surtout par un barre ou raye 

 transversale (tab. xi.), qui croisait sur les epaules avec ceUe qui 

 s'etend le long de I'epuie dans I'un et I'autre sexe. C'est cette 

 croix que la plupart des anes domestiques males ont conserves, 

 et qui embellit surtout ceux qui ont la couleur du poll claire. 

 Cette barre transversale bien plus etroite que I'autre manque 

 entierement aux Onagres femelles: quelques Tartares m'ont au 

 contraire assure qu'eUe se voyait assez souvent double dans les 

 males"(?.f. p. 269). 



This paper is translated into Gennau, and a copy of the plates 

 •with a second figure of the back of the animal is given in Pallas, 

 N. Kord. Beytr. ii. p. 22, t. 2 ; but in this figure the cross band on 

 the shoulders is not marked. From this description it woidd appear 

 that the animal which is called the Wild Ass is not always marked 

 with the cross band on the shoulder which is so peiTnanent in the 

 domestic kind and has hitherto been considered its specific cha- 

 racter. 



The chief difference between PaUas's figure of the Wild Ass and 

 the Hemione is the greater length and more acute form of the ears ; 

 of the latter the mule varies in this character. 



" No attempt has been made to break the Wild Ass (of Rajpootana) 

 in for riding, nor did it appear that the natives ever thought of such." 

 — Bisliop Heher; H. Smith, Equidce, p. 311. 



" The Wild Ass of Cutch has the cross stripe on the shoulder, and 

 differs in colours and heavier proportion from the Wild Ass of Ker 

 Porter." — Bishop Heher; H. Smith, Equidie, p. 311. 



Col. Ham. Smith confounds the domesticated Guddha with the 

 Wild Ass of the Deccan described by Colonel Sykes, and states, on 

 the Colonel's authority, that "it is not larger than a mastiff" 

 (Equidse, p. 307). 



Eversmann states that many specimens of the Kxdan or Equus 

 onager, PaUas, have been brought to Orenburg from the high steppes 

 between the Caspian and the Aral seas. A good specimen and a 

 skuU are in the Museum of the University of Kasan. All these 

 specimens are without the cross band, and have only the longi- 

 tudinal dorsal streak. Eversmann considers that the cross band is 

 either not the character of the species, or perhaps a sexual mark, 

 as he observes that he is not able to discover the specific cha- 



