NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN I33 



permitted me to approach quite near their hiding places and then 

 rushing out in sudden alarm were shot as they crossed narrow open 

 spaces. Their flesh, sometimes eaten by the natives, is not however 

 considered very palatable. The native name of the animal is 

 " poncho." 



Specimens examined: Marraganti (type locality), ic* 



Family ERETHIZONTIDAE. Porcupines 



The porcupines constitute a family of large rodents recognizable 

 externally by the armament of long, stout, acute spines, which are 

 especially well developed over the dorsal surface. 



Subfamily ERETHIZONTINAE. American Porcupines 



The subfamily Erethizontinze includes two or three genera of 

 American porcupines, all of which are arboreal in habits. 



Genus COENDOU Lacepede 

 The porcupines of tropical Middle America, genus Coendou, are 

 distinguished at once from the similarly spiny species of Erethison 

 inhabiting the northern woods, by the possession of a long, pre- 

 hensile tail instead of a short brush. A further differential character 

 of the tail, shared, however, with the Brazilian genus Chcetomys, is 

 that unlike most prehensile-tailed American mammals, the upper 

 instead of the under side of the terminal portion of the member has 

 become modified for direct contact in coiling about branches. 



COENDOU MEXICANUM LAENATUM Thomas 



Chiriqui Porcupine 



Coendou laenatus Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, Vol. ir, p. 381, 

 April, 1903. Type from Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama. 



The Chiriqui porcupine is the Isthmian representative of a densely 

 furred Middle American group which ranges on the north to Mexico, 

 the fur largely concealing the spines. In the other Panama species 

 of the genus, C. rothschildi, the spines are fully exposed over the 

 entire body. The type of C. m. Icenatum is described as smaller, more 

 heavily clothed, and with less inflated skull than C. m. mexicannm. 

 Scanty material from Costa Rica and Honduras shows probable 

 intergradation with the more northern forms of the group. Four 

 porcupines collected by J. H. Batty at Boqueron, Chiriqui, and 

 recorded by Allen ( 1904, p. 70) , as Coendou laenatus prove to be 



* Four in collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



