THE DOMESTIC ASS. 443 



by only the fore-legs possessing warty callosities, and by the 

 markings being disposed in stripes. 



The migratory herds of wild asses, which inhabit at one 

 season the warm climate of Persia, and at another the southern 

 parts of the Russian empire, are supposed to be of the same 

 species as the common domestic ass employed in this more 

 northern region. But the accounts of wild asses published by 

 various travellers are so dissimilar, that we may almost question 

 whether the original species of the wild ass has been satis- 

 factorily ascertained, and whether several other species do not 

 remain to be described. Bruce, in his Travels (vol. iv. p. 522), 

 mentions wild asses very like ours " in neck, head, face, and 

 tail, only their skins are streaked" and as inhabiting the same 

 parts of Abyssinia as the zebra. It is not unlikely that the 

 ass thus indicated is an undescribed species. Bell, in his Travels 

 in Tartary (vol. i, p. 224), notices many wild asses like the 

 common ass, except that their hair is " waved, white and brown, 

 like that of the tiger." The species mentioned in Ainsworth's 

 Travels (p. 41), and in Sir R. K. Porter's Travels (vol. i. p. 459), 

 is the khur, or wild ass of Persia, Arabia, and Mesopotamia, and 

 is probably identical with that of Thebaid, and other parts 

 of the African continent. It is also the wild mule of the 

 ancients. It has a black mane, and 110 line along the back 

 or across the shoulder. Allied to this would seem to be the 

 herds of wild asses, entirely of a pale yellow colour, which Le 

 Vaillant noticed in Southern Africa, and called by the Greater 

 Namaquas the white zebra. Lastly, there is the kiang of Thibet, 

 or Himalayan wild ass, described in Moorcroft's Travels in the 

 Himalayan Provinces, vol. i. p. 311.* All these wild asses are 

 large, fine, swift animals, presenting a very different appearance 

 in height, sleekness, and vivacity to our poor domestic and 

 degenerated ass, whose ordinary personal appearance is too well 

 known to require a particular description. Mention is made 



* For further information on wild asses, see Mr. Blyth's paper On the genm 

 Efjuus, published in the Magazine of Natural History (New Series, 1840), 

 vol. iv. p. 371. 



