142 Mr. O. Thomas on 



X. — On some interest In p Iledgelwgs from the Persian Gulf. 

 Bj Oldfield Thomas. 



(Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



Among some mammals ol)tained for the Ci>x-(/hee3man 

 collection by Mr. V. S. La Perj^omie, and referred to me for 

 determination, are four hed<^ehop;s — three white and ono 

 black — from the little island of Tanb, in the north of the 

 Persian Gulf, llcmarkable to say, these liedg^ehogs, in spite 

 of the small size of the island, belong to two different species, 

 each representative of a different ^roiip of the genus Para- 

 echinus. This genus finds to divide into two — the species 

 with long pterygoid region, comparatively small bullre, and 

 little swollen |)terygoids, and those with short pterygoid 

 region, large bullae, and much swollen pterygoids, — the two 

 groups being sutii-'iently distinct for their resf)ective members 

 to be able to live in company with one another. But it is 

 ini[)Ossible to divide them as subgenera, for certain species 

 are so absolutely interme liate that one cannot say to which 

 group they belong — notably P. nilcropus, the genotype of 

 Paraecliinus. From P. micropus one is led by imperceptible 

 steps, in the one direction, through amir and blunfordi, into 

 the " Macroec/iinus" forms, and in the other into the most 

 marked large-buUas species. 



Of the species with small bullae, the black Tanb hedgehog 

 seems referable to the South and East Arabian P. tiiger, but 

 is separable as a small island subspecies of it : — 



Paraechinus niger seniculus, subsp. n. 



General characters of true niger, but size rather smaller, 

 although tlu^ feet are nearly as long. Mead not black as in 

 niger, l)ut nearly wholly grizzled iron-grey, black and whitish 

 hairs being unifornily mixed all over it, neither colour forming 

 any special pattern or markings. Chin whitish, the rest of 

 the under surface black. Ears large, their substance blackish, 

 their hairs white. 



Skull as in niger, but smaller, with smnller teeth and 

 decidedly snialler bulla3. P' present, well developed, though 

 crowded, triangular. 



Dimensions : — 



Head and body 192 mm. ; tail 18 ; hind foot 3-1 ; 

 ear 41. 



Skull : condylo-basal length 4.j"7; zygomatic breadth 2G ; 



