Descriptive List of the Rodents of SoutJi. Africa. 235 



Dentition. i. 1/1; c. 0/0; p.m. 11 ; m. 3/3 = 20; molars semi- 

 rooted, those of the upper jaw with one internal and three or four 

 external enamel folds, this arrangement being reversed in the lower 

 jaw ; the folds soon become with wear simple loops of enamel inside 

 the margin of the tooth. 



Only one member of this genus occurs within our limits, the 

 other species are spread over Southern Europe, Asia, and Northern 

 Africa. 



HYSTRIX AFBICAE-AUSTRALIS, THE SOUTH AFRICAN PORCUPINE. 



Hystrix cristata, apud SMUTS, Enum. Mam. Cap., p. 50 (1832) ; 

 A. SMITH, S. Afr. Quart. Journ., ii., p. 171 (1834) ; LAYARD, Cat. 

 Mam. S. Afr. Mus., p. 55 (1862) (nee Linnaeus). 



Hystrix africac-australis, PETERS, Reise Mozauib. Siiugeth., 

 p. 170, pi. xxxii., figs. 6, 7 [skull] (1852). 



Hijstrix capcnsis, GRILL, k. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockholm, ii., 

 p. 19 (1858). 



Description. General colour dark brown, almost black, the fore 

 part of the body and limbs covered with long coarse bristles, which 

 are not stiff and sharp ; along the nape of the neck and the middle 

 of the front part of the back the bristles are very long, up to 16 

 inches, and stand up at the will of the animal and form a crest ; 

 towards the hinder part of the back and the haunches the bristles 

 become stronger, stouter, and sharp-pointed, forming the true 

 quills, these are banded brown and white, the brown bands being 

 the broader and the tips white ; all the quills are longitudinally 

 striated. 



Head much rounded, the rhinarium somewhat hairy and connected 

 with the upper lip by a bare line, eyes small and black, ears short, 

 broad, and rounded, thick with a few fine hairs ; sometimes a white 

 transverse mark on the chest ; feet covered with bristles nearly con- 

 cealing the toes and claw 7 s, which are four in number on the fore feet 

 (the pollex being rudimentary) and five on the hind ; tail short, 

 entirely surrounded and concealed by the spines, the point with a 

 tuft of hollow membranous cylinders, which in the young are pointed 

 and spiny, but broken off in the older animals. 



The differences betw y een this species and that of Southern Europe 

 and Northern Africa (H. cristata) are chiefly cranial, and were first 

 noticed by Peters. 



In the South African species the nasal bones reach backwards as 

 far as the anterior border of the orbit, while in H. cristata they 



