THE AFGHAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION. 61 



[These specimens supply a link between Shiraz and Afghanistan to the east of the 

 Hamun of the Helmand, besides extending the range of this Jerboa as far north as the 

 Sim-koh hills. See Blanfovd, t. c. p. 77.— J. E. T. A.] 



13. Lepus tibetanus, Waterhouse *. 



Blauford, Second Yark. Miss., Mamm. p. fi3 (18/9). 



a, $ , weight 3 lb. 1 oz., De-kainran, 2G/10/84. h, $ , weight 3 lb., Tirphul, 9/1/85. c,d,S, weight 

 34 lb., and young, Gulran, 23/2 and 9/3/85. 



[Hares were met with along our entire route, and all apparently of one species. They 

 were small ; the heaviest I have noted was procured on the 23rd February, and weighed 

 3 lb. 8 oz. Except on the march between Kushk-rud and Kin, they were never seen in 

 any numbers. Owing to the reports of the natives of these parts, it was considered, 

 unsafe to eat their flesh, and hence a general aversion arose to doing so in camp. I do 

 not believe a single one was eaten, though many of the natives looked for a time as if 

 they could have eaten anything. — J. E. T. A.] 



13*. [Insert Lagomys rufescens. Gray, as an additional species obtained by the Com- 

 mission (Scully, I. c. p. 75).] 



[Equtjs hemionus, Pallas ? 



Blauford, Eastern Persia, ii. p. 84. 



Locally called Gor-khar, and by the Turkomans Gulani. 



We were certainly in the country of the Wild Ass. They were first seen on the march 

 between Tut-i-chi and Aftao on the 30th of November, 18S4, where, owing to a cavalry 

 brigade of the Afghan army marching some little distance from us they drove to us, or 

 we to them, herds of these as well as Wild Sheep and Gazelles. The two combined 

 camps, with their long string of impedimenta, had disturbed a country of game, over 

 which but seldom any human being had traversed for many years back. The excitement 

 was great, but, alas ! no specimens were obtained. We next met with the Wild Ass on 

 our last march into Gulran, on the 23rd February, on which occasion one was come 

 upon suddenly in the dark, as if he were standing fast asleep, but he was off into the distant 

 darkness long before he could be shot at. They occupied the country in the vicinity of 

 Gulran, as they were known to have attacked and injured some Mules and Donkeys that 

 had been turned loose to graze. On the 16th March a small hei'd, probably of a dozen, 

 were seen close to our camp, at our second Gulran encampment. 



In my march from Gal-i-cha to the base of the Kambao Pass, on the 29th of April, 1885, 

 I had to cross the northern end of a great plain called " Gulam-i-maklan" or the plain 

 of the Wild Ass. At the time I crossed it, it was one great field of the most splendid 

 verdure, consisting chiefly of grasses and Umhelliferoi in their spring clothing, of herbs 

 and shrubs, probably not one over four feet in height, not a tree to be seen to break the 



* Dr. Scully refers this hare to Lepus hhrnanni, Sevcrtz., but there cau bo little question that SevertzofiTs species, 

 of which we have in the Museum specimens from the original locality, is not really separable from the earlier 

 described L. tibetanus, Waterh. 



SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. V, 11 



