214 EBINACEIDJE. 



almost horizontally forward, then come on each side three small 

 teeth with oblique cusps, the second of which is the canine and 

 the third the first premolar. The next tooth, or second premolar, 

 corresponds to the fourth lower premolar of Gymmira, pm. 4 ; the 

 first molar is, as in the upper jaw, the largest tooth in the jaw, the 

 .second being smaller and the third very small. 



The vertebral formula is C. 7, D. 15, L. 6, 8. 7, C. 5-6. 



All the species possess skin-muscles more developed than in any 

 other mammals, and these muscles enable hedgehogs to roll them- 

 selves into a ball for defensive purposes, the head and feet being 

 entirely concealed, and only spines exposed. 



The spines in all hedgehogs are longitudinally marked with fine 

 grooves (or lirate). In all the Indian species, and in some others, 

 the ridges between the grooves bear small tubercles. On the pre- 

 sence or absence of tubercles Pitzinger divided the genus and 

 called the tuberculate forms HemiecJtitnus, but the character has no 

 generic importance. 



Dr. Anderson published, in 1878 (J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2), a 

 very useful monograph of the Indian species. The distribution 

 of the genus in India is peculiar, and confined to the north- 

 western portion (Baluchistan, Punjab, Kind, IV. W. Provinces, and 

 neighbouring tracts), and to the Madras Presidency in the south. No 

 species has yet been recorded from the Central Provinces or Bengal. 



Synopsis of Indian Species. 



A. Spines on head without a naked furrow in the 



middle; pm. 2 three-rooted. 



a. Head and body about 7 inches; longest spines 



0-75 inch E. collaris, p. 215. 



b. Head and body nearly a foot ; longest spines 



exceeding an inch , . . . E. meyulotis, p. 210. 



B. Spines on head divided into two groups by a 



naked furrow in the middle. 



a. Colour dark ; i. 2 three-rooted E. jerdoni, p. 216. 



I. Colour pale ; P"'- 2 with a single root. 



'. Zygonmlic arch perfect E. picfus, p. 217. 



b'. Zygomatic arch imperfect ; malar absent E. micropus, p. 218. 



Very little is known of the habits of Indian hedgehogs, but they 

 probably closely resemble the European form E. europcws, except 

 in not hybernating. The European hedgehog lives on insects, 

 worms, slugs, snails, mice, rats, and other small mammalia, lizards, 

 snakes, and any other small animals it can kill, also birds' eggs, 

 fruit, and roots. Blasius states that the young, from four to eight 

 in number, are born in July or August ; but Dobson found the 

 number not to exceed four, and believes that the period of gesta- 

 tion does not exceed a month. He shows, too, that a second 

 brood is sometimes produced in autumn. The young at birth 

 are almost naked, but the spines, at first stft, soon harden and 

 grow rapidly, and the animals attain their full growth in about 

 nine months. 



