134 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



referable to Cocudou rothscJiildi. A speeinien in the IMuseuni of 

 Comparative Zoology from Boquete was collected by 11. J. Watson. 

 Specimens examined : Boquete, i.* 



COENDOU ROTHSCHILDI Thomas 



Rothschild's rorcupitio 



CocndoH rothschildi Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, Vol. lo, p. 169, 

 August, 1902 (see also Thomas, 1903a, p. 41). Type from Sevilla Island, 

 ot¥ Chiriqui, Panama. 



Rothschild's porcuitine is readily distinguished from its Panama 

 congener, Coctidou mcxicanuin lacnatum, by the exposed spiny 

 coveringf, the spines in the latter species being mainly concealed by 

 the long" overlapping fnr. 



C. rothscJiildi, based on tive examples from Sevilla Island and one 

 from Brava Island, is a northern representative of a group mainly 

 South American in distribution. The type is described as a spinous 

 short-haired animal related to C. quichua Thomas of Ecuador. 



The principal differential characters given are the profusely white- 

 speckled back, and the rather larger skull with greater inflation above 

 the orbits and larger nasal opening. 



Specimens from Gatun and Rio Indio are provisionally referred 

 to this species. They differ somewhat from the description of the 

 type of C. rothscJiildi in the extent of the light basal color of the 

 dorsal spines. This color reaches less than one-half, instead of 

 three-fifths, the length of the spines, while the black subterminal band 

 occupies one-half or more of the total length. In one individual the 

 dorsal spines are black-tipped, the white tips being restricted to the 

 forehead and sides where they are sparingly distributed. 



In cranial characters these sjuvimens conform closely with a series 

 of ten from Roqueron. which are assumed to be typical, and four of 

 which were erroneously recorded by Allen ( 1904. p. 70) as C. hoiatus. 



One of these porcupines, purchased from a native hunter at Gatun. 

 had its stomach distended with vegetable matter massed in two 

 colors ; a greenish part apparently leaves, and a white mass which 

 had the appearance of fruit pulp. The luinter reported locating two 

 in a tree by the light of a hunting lamp, biU while he was securing 

 one the other escaped. In felling timber the animals are occasionally 

 dislodged from places of concealmetit among matted vines in the 

 tops of trees. 



' Collection in Mus. Conip. Zool. 



