is true that besides the peculiarities we have already enumerated, this animal in its wild state possesses those qualifications developed in the highest degree which should enable it in its struggle for life to have every chance of preserving itself and its young. The admirable development of its external senses saves it from enemies; moreover these are very few in number in the localities that it inhabits—man and wolves being the only ones it has to encounter. Even wolves are rare in the desert, and would scarcely be dangerous to a full-grown camel. Besides being habitually wary, it will resort to the most inaccessible spots to avoid man, and it is probable that the sandy wastes to the east of Lake Lob have served time out of mind as its settled abode. Of course in earlier ages the limits of its distribution may have extended much farther than at the present time, when all that remains for it is the most remote corner of the great desert of Central Asia.
On comparing the above-mentioned data, it seems to me possible to arrive at the conclusion that the wild camel of the present day is the direct descendant of wild parents, but that from time to time escaped domesticated animals probably became mixed with them. The latter, or rather such as were capable of begetting stock, left offspring, and these in after-ages could not be distinguished from wild camels. But in order to decide this
