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26, 1859.] Africa and Asia can be pitted against each other in a steeple chase. Mr. Layard has recorded the difficulty of riding up to the Mesopotamian animal, which M. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire has had the merit of discriminating as a perfectly distinct species. He calls it the Hemippe, Equus hemippus from an approach to the horse in its shortened ears and better furnished tail. The little female in the Zoological Gardens was sent home by the late Mr. Burckhardt Barker, during his last journey to Syria, and she is probably the only hemippe which has been seen in England. The hemippe is necessarily the wild ass of Scripture.

The tribesmen of Daghestan himt the wild ass of Persia by relays, just as Xenophon describes the chase of his day in the Anabasis. The Gour is too clever to be stalked, and far too fast to be ridden up to: and so they drive him. The hunting party sally forth to the plains when the gours are feeding, and post themselves one by one on the flank of the line which the herd are most likely to take on being disturbed, and then they are started. The first horseman gets upon the best terms he can with them, and makes furious running: if he is fortunate enough to give them the right direction, it is taken up by the second man at the nearest point to his station, and so they go at a terrific pace until distress or accident brings the gour within reach of a gun. He is despatched like a driven deer, and they say he makes a famous roast. The Jews were forbidden ass meat, but the loose Mohammedans of Persia make no difficulty about this equine gibier. The gour differs scarcely, if at all, from the wild ass of Western India. His range extends from the western limit of the desert which bounds upon the Cutch, through Daghestan to the Mazanderanee shore of the Caspian Sea, and thence he may go eastward we know not how far.

But in Ladak and Thibet we have a perfectly different species, first known probably to Pallas, but rediscovered by Mr. Hodgson, who gives us for it the vernacular name of Kiang, and the scientific Shibboleth of Equus or Asinus polyodon. This has clear demarcations of form, colour, and dentition. Its colour is a deep rusty chestnut with white underparts, which in the living animal afford a brilliant contrast, especially in its close and glossy summer coat. In winter, from the high elevation at which he lives, the kiang grows a longer covering than any of the wild races; and from his extreme hardiness as well as size (for the males stand fourteen hands), he would make a desirable addition to our acclimatable series.

Mr. Thomason, who for many years administered the government of the North-West Provinces of Bengal, once gave a kiang to the Zoological Society. If he had lived, it was his intention to have sent a subsequent supply to begin a breeding-stud. The individual kiang in question came into his hands unexpectedly, having been brought down to the great fair at Almorah by a party of Bhootiahs, who promised to bring more in the following year. The kiang was accompanied by a little Bhootiah pony, for whom he had conceived the most extraordinary attachment. The pony was never out of his sight, and being particularly good-tempered, afforded great facilities for controlling him. It was only necessary to lead the pony, to be sure that the kiang would follow. They were shipped on board an unfortunately small vessel at Calcutta, en route for England, and it appoars that they bore the inconveniences of life at sea with equanimity, and would in all probability have performed the voyage in perfectly good health had they not encountered so stiff a gale off the Cape of Good Hope that the captain had to lighten his vessel. Finding the kiang and his fidus Achates rather more inconvenient than his dead cargo, he began by throwing them overboard. The death of Mr. Thomason put an end to the hope of effecting the more extended importation which he had promised. Major Huy, who contributed largely toward the collection of Indian pheasants in 1857, has now brought with him on his return from India a fine female kiang, which actually figures for the first time in the catalogue of the Zoological Society, and completes their series. This animal was obtained by Major Huy from the Chinese Governor of Rûdôgh, in Little Thibet.

The herd of Indian wild asses in the Jardin des Plantes is immensely valued there, and not without reason. The paterfamilias is a magnificent beast, perfectly docile, clean-limbed, and of the purest colour. If he had been broken to harness, he wonld have done good work. He is growing old now. His stock are not quite equal to himself, but under more favourable treatment would probably have attained greater size at their age. Tho mules between the hemione and the common ass are extremely good animals, taking most after the hemione, and may bo very usefully employed, if properly handled, in their second and third year. A pair of these mules used to work at the roller in the Zoological Gardens six or seven years ago — rather hard in the mouth, but not intractable, although they were seven years old when first put into shafts. There was a mule between the Indian wild ass and Burchell's zebra at Knowsley, but that presented no improvement on either species, and nothing therefore was gained by the cross. The mules between BurchelTs zebra and the common ass are particularly hardy animals, stout, and as fast as ponies of the first class. The Zoological Society’s cart was drawn about town, some twenty years ago, by a pair of them, driven tandem fashion—a very good advertisement—and it is only surprising that their perfect conduct did not induce a continued production of this useful cross, which is as desirable as any hybrid can be.

When we consider the small amount and rough quality of keep bestowed on the common ass in proportion to the work he does, the patient endurance of bad treatment which he has undergone from generation to generation, we cannot but wonder that he makes so bad a figure by the side of his petted and cherished rival.

The wild horse is unknown to us: he exists nowhere now at all events, any more than the wild camel; so that we do not know what has been done for him in the way of improvement on the original stock, but we are certain that every aid which skill and money can produce has been given to horse-breeding, and that even now