168 Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar. [No. 170. 



would result from crossing our breed, which is admirably adapted to 

 the Indian climate and the work it has to perform, and we may perhaps 

 in this case, follow with advantage, the old adage of " Let well alone." 



The species said to exist among the Kirguise, and supposed to be 

 distinct from the two forementioned species, is, in all probability, nothing 

 more than the hybrid obtained from the camel and dromedary. I heard 

 of no instance of the hybrids breeding inter se, but at the same time I 

 do not consider the point decided, or even of consequence, either one 

 way or the other ; as the fact of hybrids breeding inter se cannot prove 

 identity of species in the original parent stock, since I have more than once 

 obtained and reared offspring from hybrid birds, which offspring more- 

 over again bred inter se. Yet, notwithstanding this, the original species 

 were distinct, being the one a female canary, and the other a common 

 linnet. Such being the case, it must be evident that if the offspring of 

 the domestic goat and the wild aegagrus were proved capable of breed- 

 ing inter se, it would not show that the wild and domestic breeds were 

 identical ! 



In respect to the stock from which the camels originally descended, I 

 hold the same opinions as those set forth in regard to the domestic 

 sheep and goats, namely, that they never had, during the historical era, 

 any wild representatives, the whole having been retained by man after 

 the exit from the Ark. The camels, therefore, like most others of our 

 domestic cattle, I hold to be species whose original stock perished in the 

 waters of the Noarchian deluge. These opinions will elsewhere lead me 

 to remark upon the habitats of the modern camels, with a view to as- 

 certain whether both could have spread from the focus of Postdiluvian 

 diffusion, or whether the country of Armenia be in reality the true resting 

 place of the Ark, a point on which I am inclined to be sceptical. 



No. 52. Sciurus palmarum. — The Palm Squirrel. 



This little animal is found in the Bhawulpore country, and extends 

 into the jungles of Cutchee as far as the borders of the " Putt," or de- 

 sert between Poojaun and Burshore. It does not appear to cross that 

 desert, and is not found in Afghanistan. 



P. S. — I think I may venture to say, that very few wild mammalia 

 occur below Ghuznee, which have not been here noticed, and those will 

 probably be small species. 



In the northerly mountains of Cabul, &c. doubtless many are found, 

 but as my personal observations were confined to the neighbourhood of 



