350 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



(1914, p. 35) and Lavauden (1933, p. 20) state that Wild Asses do 

 not pass west of the Nile. 

 Antonius (1938, p. 560) says: 



It is very interesting that the only mention of a wild ass captured in the 

 Western Sahara, given by Canon Tristram, agrees not with the appearance 

 of the Atlantic, but with that of the Nubian, race. Although very exactly 

 describing the coloration of his wild born ass, Tristram does not say any- 

 thing about banded limbs. The wild asses once roaming in the neighbour- 

 hood of the caravan route to Chadames [Ghadames] and Chat [Ghat] were 

 therefore probably not of the strongly marked Atlanticus-type, but of the 

 Nubian with unbanded limbs. This opinion is strengthened by the colours 

 of the so-called "ahoulil" of the Tuareg wild or feral asses, lingering in the 

 Ahaggar mountains in single pairs and small troops. A filly of these ahoulil, 

 captured in 1927 in the heart of the Ahaggar mountains for the Schonbrunn 

 Zoo, but dying before transported to Europe, was of exactly the same Nubian 

 type. Probably there is in these ahoulil at least a strong strain of originally 

 wild blood, more or less intermingled with the Atlanticus blood of escaped 

 domestic Tuareg donkeys. 



Finally comes the extremely interesting information from Mai- 

 brant (1936, p. 27) that in French Central Africa Wild Asses are 

 restricted to the massif of Tibesti. Views differ as to their origin and 

 systematic status, but Malbrant inclines toward the opinion that 

 they are genuinely wild animals of the subspecies africanus. They 

 exist in the region of Zouar and, farther north, in the Tarsoa, moun- 

 tainous ridges situated north of Emi Koussi. Here they are not rare. 

 The plateau of Daski and the region of Trotron (between Yebi and 

 Zoumri) likewise shelter many. They live in bands of as many as 

 30 or 40 individuals. The natives capture young ones in snares near 

 the water-holes, train them, and use them as pack animals. 



A view differing from Malbrant's is held by Thesiger, who remarks 

 (1939, p. 441) that in Tibesti "donkeys are extensively used, and 

 many have run wild among the mountains probably for generations." 



The solution of the problem of the Tibesti Asses awaits the collec- 

 tion of specimens.] 



Somali Wild Ass. Somali- Wildesel (Ger.) 



ASINUS ASINUS SOMALIENSIS Noack 



A[sinus] taeniopus var. Somaliensis Noack, Zool. Garten, vol. 25, no. 4, p. 101, 

 1884. ("Somaliland"; type locality restricted by Lydekker (1916, vol. 5, 

 p. 39) to "Berbera district of [British] Somaliland.") 



FIGS.: Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 5, Bull., pi. 5, 1869 (subsp.?) ; 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1884, pi. 50, fig. 1; Akeley, 1914, pp. 112, 115, 117, 

 figs.; Zammarano, 1930, p. 88, fig.; Schmidt, 1938, pi. 11. 



In British Somaliland this Wild Ass "is strictly preserved, but . . . 

 much reduced in number" (Antonius, 1938, p. 560) . 



It is more strongly built than A. a. africanus] general color a deli- 



