RODENTIA HYSTRICIDAE ERETHIZON. 



569 



Ereihizon dortatus, F. CUT. Me"m. du Mus. IX, 1822, 432 ; tab. xx, f. 1, 2. IB. Diet. des. Sc. Nat. XLH, 531. 



BRANDT, M&n. Acad. St. Petersb. 1835, 387. 



WATERHOUSB, N. H. Mammalia, II, 1848, 27. 



GIEBEL, Siiugt. 1855, 478. 



Erethizon dorsata, WAGNER, Suppl. Schreb. IV, 1844, 27. 

 Hystrix pilosus, (CATESBY,) RICH. F. B. Am. I, 1829, 214. 



DOUGHTY' s Cab. N. H. I, 1830, 241 ; pi. xxi. 



Hystrix hudsonius, (BuissoN,) DEKAY, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 77 ; pi. xxvi, f. 1 ; pi. viii, f. 2, a,b, c, (skull.) 

 Pore epie de la Baie de Hudson, BRISSON, R. A. Quad. 1756, 128. 

 Canada porcupine, PENNANT, Syn. 1771, 266. IB. Hist. Quad. 1781, No. 257. IB. Arctic Zool. I, 1784, 109, (sp. 



in Leverian museum.) 

 Porcupine; Canada porcupine ; hedgehog ; VULGO. 



SP. CH. Fur, dark brown ; the long projecting bristly hairs, dusky, with white tips ; spines white, the points dusky. 

 Nasal bones not more than one-third the length of the upper surface of the skull. 



I regret not to have a sufficiently perfect specimen of the common eastern porcupine before 

 me to furnish a satisfactory description. The differences, however, from the E. epixantlms 

 are not very great, consisting chiefly in the color of the tips of the long hairs, and one descrip 

 tion will answer very well for both, except where the peculiarities of each are specially indicated. 



The range of this species is much more limited than previously supposed, as it is replaced 

 west of the Missouri by the E. epixanthus. It is found as far south as northern Pennsylvania, 

 in some localities, in which State it is not rare even now. Northward it reaches to the Barren 

 Grounds. 



For an elaborate and very satisfactory account of the porcupine, both as to its external features 

 and its habits, I would refer to the article in the Quadrupeds of America by Messrs. Audubon 

 and Bachman. 



List of specimen. 



ERETHIZON EPIXANTHUS, Brandt. 



Yellow-haired Porcupine. 



Erethizon epixanthus, BRANDT, Me"m. Acad. St. Petersburgh, 1835, 389, 416 ; table i, Animal ; table ix, fig. 1 4, 



Skull. IB. Mamm. exot. 55, (same as preceding.) 

 SCHINZ, Synopsis Mamm. II, 1845, 266. 

 WATERHOUSE, N. H. Mamm. II, 1848, 442. 



Sp. CH. General color dark brown, nearly black ; the long hairs of the body tipped with greenish yellow. Nasal bones 

 nearly one half or two-fifths the length of upper surface of the skull. 



This animal is of large size, almost equal to the beaver. As usual in the porcupines, the 



1 The Erethizon buffoni of F. Cuv., based on the Coendu of Buffon, is supposed to be merely a Canada porcupine, with the 

 quills exposed by the absence of the long hairs, as is frequently the case. 



72 L 



