138 CATALOGUE. 



quiet, the danger past, it ventures first slowly, and almost imperceptibly, 

 to exsert the nose, the nostrils working quickly, as if to ascertain that 

 all is safe again. It then gradually uncoils until the eyes are left free, 

 and if satisfied that its foe has passed on, it opens up, and walks off 

 with a quick but unsteady gait ; or if again startled by the slightest 

 noise near it, it is instantly intrenched within its thorny armour. All 

 the species use the snout much in the same manner as the hog does, 

 turning up the leaves and grasses in search of food, and shoving each 

 other out of the way with it when angry. They make a grunting sort 

 of noise when irritated. They are remarkably tenacious of life, bearing 

 long abstinence with apparent ease a provision of nature highly useful 

 and essential in the desert tracts they inhabit. It is probable, too, 

 that they remain during the cold season in a semitorpid state, as the 

 species which occurs in Afghanistan, hybernates." 



153. EEINACEUB AURITUS, Pallas, Nov. Comment. 

 Acad. Petrop. XIV. p. 575. 



HAB. Southern Russia, Pallas. Mesopotamia, Commander 

 Jones, of the Indian Navy. 



A. Forwarded by the Government of Bombay, being part 

 of an interesting Zoological Collection made by 

 Commander Jones, of the Indian Navy, and pre- 

 sented to the Honourable Court of Directors. 



A very delicate fur, consisting of long silky hairs of a white colour, 

 covers the head, breast, and abdomen of this species, forming also along 

 the sides and the rump a beautiful ornamental border. 



