2 Notice of the Kiang . [July, 



rump : ears, outside isabella, inside white, tips and outer border brown 

 black ; irides gray. He neighs like a horse. 



Manners. The animal is quite unmanageable by any one except his 

 own saees. On the approach of a stranger he kicks or bites, and it is 

 impossible to get near him to examine any part of his body. He is 

 much attached to the Hill-poney, and never leaves him or allows him 

 to be taken away. He will eat and drink only in company with the 

 poney, which on this account has been sent with him to England. 



The Kiang is the same animal as the Dshikketaei first discovered in 

 Siberia by Pallas and named by him Equus Hemionus. The Kiang 

 was first seen on the plains of Tibet by Moorcroft, who says it is cer- 

 tainly not the Gur-khur or wild ass of Sindh. The latter appears to 

 have been considered the Equus Hemionus in Europe, where specimens 

 are now living in the Zoological Gardens, and in Mr. Cross's menagerie, 

 London, and at the Garden of Plants in Paris. 



Besides the difference of habitat, there are two points which require 

 to be settled before the identity of the Kiang with the Wild Ass of 

 Cutch can be satisfactorily made out. The first relates to the nature 

 of the voice ; the second to the presence or absence of Zebra-stripes. 



First with regard to the voice, the Kiang neighs like a horse, the 

 wild ass of Cutch brays like an ass. 2nd. There are no Zebra-stripes 

 in the Kiang, neither in the adult nor in the foal. In the wild ass of 

 Cutch, transverse Zebra-stripes are seen on the shoulder in the adult, 

 and still more in the foal. Sometimes also the shoulder-cross has been 

 seen. In a live specimen at Mr. Cross's there was a cross-band at the 

 shoulder 4 inches long on each side. — Nouvelles Annates du Museum, 

 Vol.4, p. 117, 



The habitat of the Kiang is on the high table-land of Tibet, that of 

 the wild ass of Cutch in the sultry plains near the mouth of the Indus. 



Mr. Hodgson has described the Kiang as a new species under the 

 name of Equus polyodon. The anterior premolar, however, upon 

 which Mr. H. bases his new species, is found not unfrequently in the 

 common horse, and may be seen in two of the five specimens of the 

 head of that animal in the Museum of the Asiatic Society ; whilst 

 in the specimen of the Kiang in the same Museum, the anterior premo- 

 lar does not exist, nor is there any trace of it. This evidence appears 

 conclusive that the Kiang is not a new species. 



H. Walker. 



