1884.] MAMMALS FROM SOMALI-LAND. 541 



ings on both front and hind legs. It has likewise, as will be better 

 noticed on examining the living animals, smaller ears and a longer 

 and more flowing mane. 



It might be supposed that these are individual variations. But, as 

 will be seen upon inspection of the flat skin from Soinali-land which 

 I now exhibit, the same distinguishing features likewise present 

 themselves in this second specimen. Moreover, Mr. E. Lort Phillips, 

 F.Z.S., who visited the Berberah district in March last in compauy 

 with Mr. F. L. James and his brother, assured me that the Wild 

 Asses which he there met with were exactly of the same description. 



Mr. Lort Phillips writes as follows : — 



"On March 22, 1884, when about 20 miles to the west of 

 Berberah we fell in with a small herd of Wild Asses. After a long 

 and tedious stalk I succeeded in bagging one ; which turned out 

 to be of quite a new species to me, having no mark whatever on the 

 body, which was of a beautiful " French grey " colour. On its 

 legs, however, it had black stripes running diagonally. I have 

 unfortunately lost the book in which 1 put its measurements, but it 

 was a superb creature and stood quite 14 hands at the shoulder; 

 our Berberah horses looked quite small in comparison. The previous 

 day Mr. F. L. James had shot a new Antelope \ and Mr. W. D. 

 James a Lesser Koodoo." 



It would likewise, I think, be probable on theoretical grounds 

 that animals occupying such different and widely separated areas of 

 distribution would present points of difference. 



But assuming this to be the case, a great difficulty arises as to the 

 proper terms to be applied to these two animals. I have hitherto called 

 the Nubian form of which we have had a specimen in the Gardens 

 before the one that is now living there 2 Equus tceniopus, Heuglin. 

 In so doing I acted on the supposition that only one species of 

 African Wild Ass was known to exist. But seeing there appear to be 

 two, it becomes necessary to make some further inquiries on the 

 subject. 



Heuglin described his Equus tceniopus in his article on the Fauna 

 of the Red Sea and Somali Coast already referred to. In his 

 appendix to this article (Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1861, p. 19) 

 he distinguishes two species of African Wild Ass. The first of these, 

 from the provinces of Taka and Berber, is clearly our animal of the 

 Nubian Desert, which he proposes to call Equus asinus. The 

 second species, which he attributes to Shoa and the Somali Coast, he 

 proposes to call Equus tceniopus. But when we come to read his 

 description of Equus tceniopus, and to examine the figure of the same 

 animal contained in the 28th volume of the ' Nova Acta' of the 

 Leopoldino-Carolinian Academy, we find that the animal designated 

 by this name is clearly not that of the Somali Coast, as it possesses 

 a well-marked dorsal stripe and a strongly defined cross-line over 

 the shoulders. Moreover, Heuglin himself tells us that the speci- 

 men from which the description of A. tceniopus was taken was a 



1 I. e. the specimen of Gazella walleri above referred to. 



2 See Catalogue of Animals, 1883, p. 130 ; and P. Z. S. 1881, p. 784. 



37* 



