CHINCHILLIDjE 487 



dams of tanks, and in old mud walls, etc. In some parts of 

 the country they are very destructive to various crops, potatoes, 

 can-. us, and other vegetables. They never issue forth till after 

 dark, hut now and then one will he found returning to his lair in 

 daylight. Dogs take tip the scent of the Porcupine very keenly, 

 and on the Nilghiris I have killed many by the aid of dogs, tracking 

 them to their (lens. They charge backwards at their foes, erecting 

 their spines at the same time, and dogs generally get seriously in- 

 jured by their strong spines, which are sometimes driven deeply 

 into the assailant. The Porcupine is not bad eating, — the meat, 

 which is white, tasting something between pork and veal." 



Besides these three large crested species of Hystrix, there are 

 four or five smaller species without nuchal crests occurring in 

 North-East India and in the Malay region, from Nipal to Borneo. 



Fossil species of Hystrix occur in the Pleistocene and Pliocene 

 of India, and in Europe from the Upper Pliocene to the Middle 

 Miocene, being perhaps also represented in the French Phosphorites. 

 Remains from the Pliocene and Miocene of the United States have 

 been referred to this genus, and if rightly determined are of especial 

 interest from a distributional point of view. 



Atli crura. 1 — The Brush-tailed Porcupines are much smaller 

 animals than the last, characterised by their long tails tipped with 

 bundles of peculiar flattened spines. Of the three species two are 

 found in the Malay region and one in West Africa. A fossil 

 species occurs in the cavern-deposits of Madras. 



Trichys.- — This genus contains but one Bornean species (T. 

 guentheri), externally very like an Atherura, but differing from the 

 members of that genus in many important cranial characters. 



Family Chinchillid.e. 



Terrestrial forms, with elongated hind limbs, bushy tails, very 

 soft fur, and complete clavicles. Jugal without an inferior angle, 

 and extending forwards to the lachrymal ; palate contracted in front 

 and deeply emarginate behind ; incisors short, and the molars 

 divided by continuous enamel-folds into transverse lamina?. Neo- 

 tropical region. This family includes only three existing species, 

 divided into as many genera. 



Chinchilla. 3 — In this genus the fore feet have five and the hind 

 four digits, the tail is long and bushy, and the auditory bullae are 

 enormous, appearing on the top of the skull. The one species 

 (C. lanigera) is restricted to the alpine zones of the Andes from the 

 north of Peru to the south of Chili. It is a Squirrel-like Rodent, 



1 Cuvier, Rdcpne-Animal, 2d ed. vol. i. p. 215 (1829). "Atherure." 

 - Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876, p. 739. 

 3 Bennett, Gardens, etc. Zool. Soc. pt. i. p. i. (1829). 



