1859.] On the different Animals known as wild Asses. 233 



Ifc would appear that these limb-markings are never seen in the 

 Kyang ; but a narrow black ring adjoining the hoof would seem to 

 be constant in this animal, as was first pointed out to me by Major 

 Robert C. Tytler, the proprietor of the three Ghor-khurs now in Cal- 

 cutta. This mark is also more or less developed in the Ghor-khur ; 

 but is by no means conspicuous in either race. In two stuffed spe- 

 cimens of the Kyang, old and young, in the Society's museum, there 

 is no black shoulder-stripe, but in place of it the coat is there dis- 

 tinctly of a deeper shade of hue, so that the stripe is faintly indi- 

 cated, as is best seen from a moderate distance. The same is ob- 

 servable, when especially looked for, in an unmounted skin. In one 

 only of Major Tytler's three Ghor-7churs, there is a small narrow 

 black line, on one side only of the animal, where the cross occurs in 

 some individuals. In another Ghor-7chur, which I saw in the Surrey 

 Zoological Garden, there was an incipient cross-stripe, about an inch 

 long on one sids, and still less (the merest indication of it) on the 

 other side. In the individual which Jacquemont saw in Barrackpore 

 Park, he remarks that there was " une ligne noire transversale sur 

 les epaules." Whether this cross-stripe is ever seen in the hemip- 

 pits remains to be ascertained. 



Sir R. Kerr Porter describes a " wild Ass" without even the dor- 

 sal stripe ; and as he completed his sketch of it from a second indi- 

 vidual which he killed, our incredulity should therefore abate some- 

 what, even though his account remains uncorroborated to this day. 

 All other observers seem to agree in describing the Persian wild Ass 

 to have the usual longitudinal dorsal streak. Thus, in Morier's 

 f Second Journey through Persia' (II, 201), we read — ( ' The wild 

 Ass is of a light mouse-colour, with a dark streak over its shoulder 

 and down its back," which may imply that a cross-stripe was also 

 observed. Porter, however, states — " The mane was short and black, 

 as was also a tuft which terminated his tail ; no line whatever ran 

 along his back, or crossed his shoulders, as are seen in the tame spe- 

 cies." Such an animal does not appear to have been met with by 

 any other person! Prof. St. Hilaire suspects that it will yet prove 

 to be a distinct species. As an example of the vague misuse of 

 names in which many authors indulge, it may here be remarked 



2 ii 



