14 



THE AFRICAN WILD ASS. 



horse. Tlie stud book of Mr. C. L. Sutherland, who is so 

 greatly interested in ass and mule breeding, testifies to 

 the fact that it is a month longer, and in some instances 

 even more. Thus, a Spanish jenny that visited a Poitou 

 jack on July 7, 1876, foaled a jack on July 23, 1877.-^ 

 Another distinction between the ass and the horse is that 

 twin births are not uncommon in the case of the former, 

 but are much rarer in the latter. 



A singular variety of the African ass was foaled in 

 the Gardens of the Zoological Society in 1892. The 

 female parent was purchased by the society in 1881, 

 and produced her first foal in June, 1883 ; the other 

 parent being not an African, but the variety of the 

 Asiatic ass known as the Hemippe {E. hemionus). This 

 offspring was of a reddish colour, similar to that of the 

 male parent, the female being of the usual grey. This 

 half-bred was exhibited at the Agricultural Show at 

 Windsor, in 1889. It was a vicious, untamed animal, and 

 was sold to Mr. Guy, and is now in the Gardens of the 

 Zoological Society at Dublin. In the report of that Society 



* As this difference in tlie gestation of the two species is _ so 

 generally ignored, I have tlionglit it desirable to adduce the following 

 definite instances of the period of gestation in the ass (the result in 

 six cases of a single service) from the stud book of Mr. Sutherland : 



Dam. 



Sire. 



Date. 



Foal Born. 



Period of 

 Gestation. 



Donna 



Dolores 



Addle 



Donna 



Donna II 



Nellie 



Dinah 



Nellie 



to Eanulfe 



to Eanulfe 



to Vitre 



to Vitrd 



to Vitre 



to Don .Tuan.. 

 to Cetywayo.. 

 to Maita .Taclc 



May 28, 1877 



April 10 and 20, 1877 



June 24, 1S79 



June 2.;. 1870 



Sept. 30 ct Oct. 27, 1879., 



June 12, 1878 (Jenny) 

 April 21, 1878 (Jack) 

 June 16, 1880 (Jack).,, 

 June 20, 1880 (Jenny) 

 Oct. 18, 1880 (Jenny) 



April 27, 1885 May IC. ISSf; (Jack) 



June 15. 1887 June 14. ISSS (Jack) ... 



June IS, ISsr. July 3, 1887 (Jenny) ... 



885 days 

 3t:G days 

 8.58 days 

 8(!0 days 

 .870 days (?) 

 885 days 

 8fi5 days 

 380 days 



Tlie above were all large jennies of foreign breeds, such as the 

 Maltese, Spanish, Poitou, and their crosses, which belonged to Mr, 

 Sutherland. They were put to large foreign jacks with the above results. 



