Hystrix. 3 365 
very night before it is fit to be cut. Peas, potatoes, onions, &c., are 
not touched until the owner has made up his mind that they were just 
ready for the table.” The Gonds in Seonee were always on the look- 
out for a porcupine. I described in my book on that district the 
digging out of one. 
“The entrance of the animal’s abode was a hole in a bank at which 
the dogs were yelping and scratching ; but the bipeds had gone more 
scientifically to work by countermining from above, sinking shafts down- 
wards at various points, till at last they reached his inner chamber, when 
he scuttled out, and, charging backwards at the dogs with all his spines 
erected, he soon sent them flying, howling most piteously ; but a Gondee 
axe hurled at his head soon put an end to his career, for a porcupine’s 
skull is particularly tender.” 
The female produces from two to four young, which are born with 
their eyes open. Their bodies are covered with short soft spines, 
which, however, speedily harden. It is said that the young do not re- 
main long with their mother, but I cannot speak to this from personal 
experience. I have had young ones, but not those born in captivity. 
No. 404. HystTrRix BENGALENSIS. 
The Bengal Porcupine ( Jerdon’s No. 205). 
Native NAaME.—Sajaru or Sajru, Bengali. 
DEscRIPTION.—‘ Smaller than the last; crest small and thin; the 
bristles blackish; body spines much flattened and strongly grooved, 
terminating in a slight seta or bristle; slender flexible quills much fewer 
than in Zewcura, white, with a narrow black band about the centre ; the 
thick quills basally white, the rest black, mostly with a white tip; a 
distinct white demi-collar ; spines of lumbar region white, as are those of 
tail and rattle ; muzzle less hirsute than in Zeucura.” 
S1zE.—Head and body, 28 inches; tail, 8 inches. 
There is occasionally a variety to be found of this species with orange- 
coloured quills, or rather the orange hue is assumed at times. Jerdon 
mentions the fact that Sclater describes his A Méalabarica as having 
certain orange-coloured quills in place of white, and also that Blyth 
considered the two species identical. He also states that Mr. Day 
procured specimens of the orange porcupine from the Ghats of Cochin 
and Travancore, and that they were considered more delicate eating by 
the native sportsmen, who aver that they can distinguish the two kinds 
by the smell from their burrows ; but he was not apparently aware at 
the time that a specimen of 4. Malabarica with orange quills in the 
Zoological Gardens in London moulted, and the red quills were re- 
placed by the ordinary black and white ones of the common Indian 
kind. Dr. Sclater afterwards (see ‘P. Z. S.’ 1871, p. 234) came to 
the conclusion that 4. Malabarica was synonymous with A. deucura. 
