542 MR. SCLATER ON MAMMALS FROM SOMALI-LAND. [NoV. 18, 



living animal of which he did not certainly know the locality. 

 Under these circumstances we cannot apply the term tceaiopus to 

 the Somali form of Wild Ass. Nor can we apply it to the Nubian 

 form, which Heuglin himself termed Eqiius asi/ius. To the latter 

 animal, however, Fitzinger in 1866 (Sitzungsb. k. Akad. Wien, hv. 

 p. 588) gave the specific name ofricanus, which I propose to retain 

 for the Nubian form of Wild Ass, while the Somali form may be 

 called Equus asinus somalicus. 



These two forms may be diagnosed as follows : — 



1. Eauus ASINUS AFRiCANUs. (Plate L. fig. 2.) 

 Equus asinus, Heuglin, Pet. Mitth. 1861, p. 19. 



Equus africanus, Fitzinger, Sitz. Ak. Wien, liv. p. .'iSS (1866). 

 Minor : isabellino-griseus ; linea dorsali distincta et altera trans 



hurneros nigricante ; juia brevi erecta ; pedlbus plus minusve 



nigra transfasciatis. 

 Hah. in desertis Nubiae superioris. 



2. Eauus ASINUS somalicus. (Plate L. fig. 1.) 



Major: griseus; linea dorsali fere obsoleta, humerorum nulla; juba 

 longiore, caduca ; pedibus distincte et frequenter niyro trans- 

 fasciatis. 



Hab. in terra Somaiica. 



P.S. — Since this paper was read I have had the opportunity of 

 reading Herr Mens-es's article on his excursion into Somali-land, 

 contained in Petermann s ' Mittheilnngen' for the present month . 

 Herr Menges, who was the traveller employed by Mr. Hagenbeck 

 to collect living animals, gives us a most interesting account of two 

 of the Antelopes above mentioned, and also alludes to the Wild Ass. 



On the high plains south of Berberah he met with what was 

 evidently Gazella wcdleri, which, he says, is one of the most beau- 

 tiful Antelopes of Somali-land, and is called by the natives "Gere- 

 uuk." He compares it with G. dama and G. scemmerringi, but 

 says it is manifestly different in its colouring. While the body is of 

 a coffee-brown, it has a broad darker band on its back 10 to 15 

 centimetres in width. The neck is remarkably long. The horns 

 are short and rather strong, curved gracefully backwards, but pro- 

 jecting forwards at the tips. 



In the mountains further south Herr Menges found the Dwarf 

 Koodoo (Strepsiceros imberbis) more abundant than the larger 

 species (S. kudu), and calls it the " most beautiful of all Antelopes 

 known to him." It is termed "Aderio" by the Somalis, and is 

 distinguishable from the larger Koodoo, as he says, not only by its 

 smaller size (which is about that of a Fallow Deer) but by the more 

 numerous cross-stripes, of which there are from twelve to fifteen 

 across the back, while the larger Koodoo has only four or five. 



The Wild Ass Herr Menges merely mentions as being different in 

 colour from other species known to him. 



^ Ausflug Iq das Somali-land. Von Josef Menges. Peterm. Mittheil. 18S4, 

 p. 401. 



