284 Mr. O. Thomas on 



black ; tuft of hair behind ears pale or reddish brown ; upper 

 surface of hands and feet black. Tail rather more than half 

 the length of the head and body, its basal third above with 

 variegated spines as on the back, its under surface and middle 

 third above with close black bristles about ^ inch in length ; 

 its terminal tliird above naked. 



Skull with rather a longer muzzle and larger teeth than 

 that of C. viUosus. Nasals parallel-sided, evenly rounded 

 behind. 



Dimensions (taken from a re-made skin) : — 



Head and body 380 millim. ; tail 235 ; hind foot (s. u.) 58. 



Skull : greatest length 8 "5 ; basilar length from hen- 

 selion 70 ; greatest breadth 46'6 ; nasals 27*2 X 14'5 ; inter- 

 orbital breadth 26'4; palate length from henseliou 36'5 ; 

 diastema 22*4 ; length of upper molar series 18'5. 



Hah. Puembo, Upper Guallabamba River, Province of 

 Pichincha, Ecuador; altitude about 2500 metres. 



Type B.M. no. 99. 2. 18. 17. Killed June 1898. "Found 

 in the bushes." 



Three specimens of this distinct porcupine have been 

 presented to the British Museum by Consul L. Soderstrom, 

 of Quito, to whom we already owe so much of our knowledge 

 of the fauna of that interesting region. 



Coendou vesti'tus, sp. n. 



A dark-coloured thickly furred species of very small size. 

 Spines of two sorts. 



Size very small, smaller than in any other species except 

 C. palHdus, Waterh. Fur very long, soft and thick, far 

 surpassing and hiding the ordinary spines, though in turn 

 surpassed by the long bristle-like ends of the thinner spines. 

 On the head, however, the spines show through the fur. 

 Under surface also thickly furry, witiiout admixture of spines. 



Spines, when of normal character, short, the longest 

 scarcely more than an inch in length and about 1'2 millim. in 

 diameter ; in colour they are white or pale yellowish white, 

 with their extreme tips (1-2 millim.) black. Mixed with the 

 normal spines are a number of exceedingly long slender spines 

 of a different character, less than half a millimetre in thick- 

 ness, and tapering off into bristles, which considerably surpass 

 the general body -fur in length and attain a length of 70 millim. 

 or more. The colour of these slender spines is pale yellow 

 for their basal inch, the remainder being black. 



Colour of the fur in general blackish brown throughout, 

 above and below, but the specimen is somewhat faded and 



