as 
wats tl 
Prof. E. Linnberg on Eastern [edgeho7s. 621 
that this group may be regarded by other authors as a real 
genus. It is evident from his words that Sundevall con- 
sidered auritus as the type of the Ericius group, and if this 
one is taken as a genus or a subgenus this name’ must be 
used for the same. The other species, which Sundevall 
enumerates as belonging to the same, are platyotis, Sundevall, 
egyptius, Geoffr., hypomelas, Brandt, collaris, Gray, 
spatangus, Bennett, and dauricus, Sundevall. 
When accepting Hemiechinus, Fitzinger, 1866, as a genus 
among the hedgehogs, Satunin and others have also 
considered auritus as the type for the same, although, as 
Thomas in his recent review (Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 9, 
vol. 1. 1918) points out, this name ‘is not included in 
. Fitzinger’s original paper.” ‘Thomas gains, however, the 
same result by selecting platyotis, Sundevall, as type for 
Hemiechinus, because it is found in Fitzinger’s list, and by 
synonymizing in agreement with Anderson p/atyotis anil 
auritus. As Sundevall already in 1841 proposed the name 
Kricius for that group of hedgehogs to which auritus and 
platyotis belong, Hemiechinus is reduced to asynonym of tlie 
same. It is of interest to find that Sundevall refers to his 
Ericius group, in addition to those already mentioned, mostly 
the same species as Thomas (/. ¢.) counts to Hemiechinus— 
viz. collaris, grayi(and the identical spatangus), and dauuricus. 
It is of interest as well to find that Sundevall also had 
recognised that his heterodactylus =albwentris, Wagner, now 
referred by Thomas to the genus Afelerixv, and his ethiopicus, 
now by Thomas referred to the genus Paraechinus, were so 
different inter se and from the others that they might be 
generically separated. 
With regard to the supposed identity of auritus, Gm., and 
platyotis, Sundey., it must be remembered that this identi- 
fication was done at a time when the geographic races were 
less studied and less valued than now. The present author 
has unfortunately no material of the true awritus for com- 
parison, and can thus only judge with the aid of the literature, 
but according to that it appears little probable that the 
identifieation mentioned can be upheld according to modern 
views. ‘* Hrinaceus auritus”? was, of course, from the 
beginning, a comprehension of all‘hedgehogs with large ears 
from Southern Russia, about Volga and all through Central 
Asia, and southwards to Transcaucasia, &c. By and by, 
from this heterogeneous mass, was split off albulus, Stol., 
with its several subspecies in different parts of Central Asia. 
Later on (1901) Satunin proved that the hedgehog in the 
country around Mount Ararat was a different species, which 
