208 TRICKYS FASCICULATA. 



spines on the back of the animal; Buffon wrote: » tout Ie 

 dessous du corps est blanc, les flancs et Ie dessus du corps 

 sont hérissés de piquans , moins longs que ceux du porc- 

 épic d'Italie , mais d'une forme toute particuliere , étant 

 un peu aplatis et sillonnés sur leur longueur d'une raie en 

 gouttière". This description agrees with Dr. Günther's and 

 exactly with what we see in our four specimens. As to 

 the thick bundle of terminal quills at the end of the tail , 

 I confess that Bufion's figure is less correct than his des- 

 cription , which runs as follows: »la queue est terminée 

 par un bouquet de poils longs et plats , ou plutót de pe- 

 tites lanieres blanches semblables a des rognures de par- 

 chemin". Exactly Dr. Günther's description, P. Z. S. L. 

 1889, p. 76, where he says that the tail ends in a thin 

 bundle , meanwhile Buffon said in his description no word 

 about a thick bundle. So that it is clear that lipura Gün- 

 ther {Güntheri Thomas) is fasciculata Shaw (Buffon's Pore- 

 epic de Malacca). I demonstrated above that fasciculata 

 needed a new generic title, and 1 think it to be en regie 

 to accept Dr. Günther's generic name Trichys and to call the 

 species Trichys fasciculata (Shaw). 



To what conclusions we come when laying too much 

 strength upon figures in old books without consulting and 

 comparing the descriptions, may be illustrated by the most 

 striking fact, that Seba's figure of Poreus aculeatus syl- 

 vestris shows short quills on back and flanks, meanwhile 

 in reality on the back of macroura there are several very 

 long quills and bristles; without more donnees we there- 

 fore should not have good reason to trust the identity 

 of Seba's figure with macroura L. Dr. Günther nevertheless 

 did not hesitate to accept the name macroura L. for Seba's 

 animal in spite of Seba's incorrect figure. And Dr. Günther 

 was quite right in doing so , for in Seba's figure the tail 

 is the main point, the rest is secondary thing. And so it 

 is too with Buffon's figure of le Porc-épic de Malacca 

 {fasciculata Shaw). 



Observation. That there is a distinct relation between 



rSTotes from the Ley den Museum, Vol. X.VI. 



