446 HYSTBICID.E. 



318. Atherura macrura. The Asiatic 'brush-tailed Porcupine. 



Hystrix macroura, L. Syst. Nat. i, p. 77 (1766). 



Hystrix fasciculata, Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii, p. 11 ; Gray and Hardw. 



III. Ind. Zool. ii, pi. 15. 

 Atherura fasciculata, Cantor, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 257 ; Myth, Cat. 



p. 129 ; id. Mam. Birds Burma, p. 43 ; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1871, 



p. 236. 

 Atherura macrura, Waterhouse, Mammalia, ii, p. 472 ; Blyth, J. A. 



S. B. xx, p. 519 ; Giinther, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 742,'; Thomas, P. Z. S. 



1886, p. 71. 

 L&ndak, Malay. 



Body covered with rigid spines above, those of the lumbar region 

 longer and mixed with a few still longer flexible bristle-like spines ; 

 head and lower parts covered with soft flattened spines. The tail 

 is spiny near the base, then scaly, spiny bristles emerging between 



Fig. 146. Atherura macrura ; a, one of the bristles at the end of the tail. 



the scales, at the tip is a tuft of longer bristles, partly simple, but 

 chiefly each composed of three or four elongate elliptical flattened 

 disks joined together end to end, and to the tail by short bristles. 



Colour above dark brown, either uniform or with the tips of the 

 spines paler ; the long lumbar bristles mostly white, lower parts 

 and bristles at the tip of the tail whitish. 



Dimensions. Head and body of a male 22 inches, tail 10, of a 

 smaller specimen 18-5 and 9 ; basal length of skull 3-4, zygoinatic 

 breadth 1-8. 



Distribution. Burma and the Malay countries, extending north- 

 ward to Chittagong, Tipperah, and the Khasi hills, and southward 

 to Java, Sumatra, and perhaps Borneo. 



Habits. Similar to those of Hystrix. 



