HYSTRICIDA—ERETHIZON—ERETHIZON DORSAT US. 389 
Hystrix pilosus americanus CaTvEsBy, Nat. Hist. Carolina, i, 1731, xxx. 
Hystrix pilosus RicHarpdson, Faun. Bor.-Awer., i, 1829, 214. 
Hystrix hudsonis Brisson, Regn. Anim. Quad., 1756, 128. 
Hystrix hudsonius DEKay, New York Zoil., i, 1842, 27, pl. xxv, fig. 1 (animal), pl. viii, figs. 2, a, b, e (skull) 
Le Pore-épic de la Baye de Hudson, Brisson, Regn. Anim. Quad., 1756, 12. 
LI) Urson Burron, Hist. Nat., xii, 1764, 426, pl. ly. 
Canada Porcupine PENNANT, “ Syn., 1771, 266; Hist. Quad., 1781, No. 257”; Arctic Zool., i, 1784, 109.— 
GILPIN, Proc. & Traus. Nova Scotia Iust. Nat. Sci., ii, 1870, 89, 
Bear Porcupine, Harwan, Faun. Amer., 1825, 190. 
Var. EPIXANTHUS. 
Western Porcupine. 
Drethizon epixanthus BRanvv, Mém. Acad. St. Pétersb., 1835, pl. i (animal), ix, figs. 1-4 (skull).—Scninz, 
Synop. Mam., ii, 1845, 266.—Warrrnouss, Nat. Hist. Mam., ii, 1848, 442.—Nrwserny, Pacif. 
R. R. Expl. & Surv., vi, iv, 1857, 62 (California and Oregon).—Bairp, Mam. N. Am., 1858, 
569.—KENNERLY, Pacif. R. R. Expl. & Surv., x, vi, 1859, 16-(Little Colorado River).—HaypeEn, 
Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., xii, 1862, 149 (Upper Missouri).—Cours, Amer. Nat., i, 1867, 362 5 
67 fe Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1869, 13¥(Arizona).—Browy, Rep. Brit. Ass., 1869 (1870), 220.— 
te ied 
“STEVENSON, 2d Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 1871, 462.—Mrrnriam, Sixth Ann. Rep. U.S. 
Geol. Surv. Terr., 1873, 666.—Cours & Yarrow, Wheeler’s Expl. & Surv. west of the 100th 
Merid., v, Zo6l., 1875, 174. 
Erethizon dorsatus var. epixanthus ALLEN, Bull. Essex Inst., vi, 1874, 52, 57, 61, 66; Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 
Hist., xvii, 1874, 43. 
Hystrix pilosus Peace, Mamm. U. S§. Ex. Ex., 1848, 46 (Pacific coast)—WoopuHousr, Sitgreaves’s Exped. 
down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers, 1853, 54 (New Mexico). 
Erethizon [sp.?] Maxmuntan, Wiegm. Arch., 1862, i, 132. 
Erethizon (Lchinoprocta) rufescens Gray, Proc. Zobl. Soe. Lond., 1865, 32k. 
Var. DORSATUS. 
i Canada Porcupine. 
General color brownish-black, varied above’ with yellowish-white. 
Body above densely clothed with long, soft, rather woolly hair, intermixed 
with straight, coarse hairs and bristles. The latter are four to six inches 
long, and are usually tipped with yellowish-white, the light tip varying in 
extent from one-fourth to seven-eighths of the length of the hair; sometimes 
it is obsolete, and again extends to the base, but involves usually only the 
exposed portion. Beneath this, and generally wholly concealed by the 
pelage proper, the dorsal surface is thickly set with erectable, barbed quills, 
or spines, varying in length from one to four inches. They are usually white 
basally and tipped with black, the black portion varying in extent from one- 
tenth to one-third the length of the quill; a few, however, are entirely white, 
and others occur entirely black. They vary greatly in size on different parts 
of the body; beginning on the nose as short, stiffened, pointed hairs, they 
pass into short spines between the eyes, and increase in length and thickness on 
the back of the head; thence continuing toincrease in size posteriorly, they are 
longest over the hips, on the lower part of the back, and on the upper side of 
