216 EEINACEID^. 



105. Erinaceus megalotis. The Afghan Hedgehog. 



Erinaceus megalotis, JBlyth, J. A. S. E. xiv, p. 353 (1845) ; xv, 

 p. 170 ; id. Cat. p. 80 ; Anderson, Cat.?. 163 ; Scully, A. M. N. If. 

 ser. 5, viii, p. 223 ; Dobson, Mon. Ins. p. 18. 



Size large. Spines long, each surrounded by twenty-seven to 

 twenty-nine faintly tuberculated ridges, the spines on the head 

 not divided by a naked space in the middle. Ears large, triangular. 

 Feet well developed; claws strong; posterior pad of hind foot 

 almost obsolete. 



Skull larger than that of E. collaris, but otherwise similar. In 

 a Kandahar specimen Scully found that the second upper premolar 

 was two-rooted, but this is exceptional, and due to the two outer 

 fangs being united into one. 



Colour dark. Face and ears brown (cinereous according to 

 Hutton), with a few white hairs intermixed ; sides of head white, 

 with brown hairs mixed ; chin nearly white ; lower parts, tail, and 

 limbs dark sooty brown. 



Spines brown at the base, then white, succeeded by a faint dusky 

 band (occasionally absent), reaching nearly to the middle, then a 

 broad whitish band succeeded by a narrower dark brown ring, 

 followed by a white band and terminating in a dark brown tip. 

 The dark ring on the proximal (or basal) half of the spine and the 

 longer spines distinguish this form at once from E. collaris. 



Dimensions. Length of head and body about a foot according 

 to Hutton, tail 1*5 inches, ear from base 1'5, hind foot 1-55, 

 longest spines T05 ; extreme length of skull 2-05 (in another skull 

 2-3), zygomatic breadth 1-2 (and 1-35). 



Distribution. Apparently found throughout a large part of 

 Afghanistan ; the type was from Kandahar. This species has 

 been found near Quetta by Hutton, St. John, and others. 



Habits. Hutton says : " They feed on slugs and Helices, with 

 which the fields at Kandahar are overstocked ; they also prey on 

 worms, insects, and lizards. They hide during the day in holes, 

 and come out in the evening to feed. They retire to hybernate in 

 deep holes in the earth in the end of October or beginning of 

 November, according to the season, and remain in a semi-torpid 

 condition till February, when they again appear." 



106. Erinaceus jerdoni. Anderson's Hedgehog. 



Eriuaceus jerdoni, Anderson, J. A. S. E. xlvii, pt. 2. p. 209, pi. v 

 (1878) ; id. Cat. p. 165 ; Dobson, Mon. Ins. p. 16. ' 



Spines long, each surrounded by about nineteen tuberculated 

 ridges, those on the forehead commencing between the ears in two 

 belts divided by a nude area along the middle of the head. Ears 

 large, subtriangular. Feet well developed ; claws strong ; hind 

 foot with a large posterior pad in the middle opposite the hallux. 



Skull more elongate than in other Indian species, with a per- 



