Porcupine of Tenassenm and Southern Siam. 137 



times referred to Acanthion bnic/ifjurus *, Linn., and some- 

 times to -I. beiif/alensis, Blytli, the latter l)eiii<!; unfortunately 

 an tiiiiiiial of which no one seems to have modern specimens 

 aviiihihle for comparison. 



In his original account Blytli says of it " general colour as 

 in A. hod(jsoni ; the quills generally having the basal half 

 white, the rest black, most of them with a white tip more or 

 less developed." This description no one would apply to 

 the move southern animals under notice, for in thein the 

 black ring on the quills is in length only from one-third to 

 one-tifth of the w hite tip, whereas Blyth's account obviously 

 suggests that the greater part of the terminal half of the 

 quill is black, and only just the tip white. This latter con- 

 dition is found in A. hudgsoni, and would fulfil his statement 

 as to the general colour. Possibly, indeed, betu/alensis is not 

 distinct from liod<jsoni, but this nnist be settled later. 



A. hemjcdensis being thus idiniinated, all tlie ])orcupine3 in 

 question — those of Burma, Siam, and the Malay Peninsula — 

 are practically identical externally, with a small brown and 

 white crest, greater than in hodgsoni,- ^av smaller than in 

 leucurus, and liave the main body-spines bufTy white, with a 

 median blackish ring. The nuchal crest is rather less deve- 

 loped in the Malay animal, but the difference is not great. 



In the skulls, however, I find that two forms are readily 

 distinguishable — the one from the Malay Peninsula (true 

 hrachyurus) and the other from Tenasserim and Siam. 

 These may be diagnosed as follows: — 



Acanthion hrachyurus, Linn. 

 Syn. A. grotei, Gray t. 



Size smaller, coiuJylo-incisive length less than 130 ram. (see 

 table of measurements on p. 136). Nasals comparatively 

 small and frontals correspondingly large, the length of the 

 frontal suture over 55 per cent, of that of the nasals. Supra- 

 orbital edges tending to the development of a fairly definite 

 postorbital process. Size of teeth and other proportions as 

 indicated by the measurements. 



A good figure of the skull of this porcupine has been given 

 by Bonhote J. 



• Tliere is a curiously widespread idea tliat every word ending' in -on 

 is neuter ; but the majority of Greek substantives ending in -a>v are mas- 

 culine, and it is only the adjectival ending -6v which is necessarily noutei". 



t It is useless to try and allocate Gray's names _/?ewi/?e/7j and barfletti, 

 baaed on specimens of douljtful locfility and asserted to be menagerie 

 hybrids. 



X Fascic. Malay, i. pi. iii. (lUOo). 



