TUITED-TAILED FORCU VmK—Jt/ierura Africdna. 



The Tufted-tailed Porcupine is even a more singular animal than that which 

 has just been described. 



The quills which cover the body are very short in proportion to the size of the 

 animal, and instead of presei-ving the rounded, bamboo-like aspect of the ordinary 

 Porcupine-quills, are flattened like so many blades of grass. The tail is scaly 

 throughout a considerable part of its length, but at the tip is garnished with a 

 tuft of most extraordinary -looking objects, which can hardly be called hairs or 

 quills, but, as Buff'on remarks, look very like narrow, irregular strips of parchment. 

 They are very sharply pointed, and are remarkable for a deep groove that runs 

 along their entire length. Upon the head the quills are not more than one inch- 

 long, but on the middle of the body they reach four or even five inches. Among 

 these quills there are a few long and very slender spines or bristles, which project 

 beyond the others. 



The Tufted-tailed Porcupine has been found at Fernando Po, and is an 

 inhabitant of India and the Peninsula of Malacca. 



17t 



