1 22 The Yellow- Haired Porcupine. 



Brodiaeas in shallow boxes, the same as described for Calochor- 

 tus. For a covering I use clay and chip soil. With B. grandi- 

 flora, B. capitata, B. coccinea and B. stellaris rich soil scraped 

 from a wood-yard proves excellent covering. With others clay 

 loam, with various mixtures, with chip soil, have been tried, and 

 the bulbs thrive in all of them. In boxes one will hardly use too 

 much water until the blooming season, when moderate moisture 

 only is required, after which the plants should be dried off. They 

 should be planted shallow — four mches is deep enough — and they 

 need abundant sunlight. Here all are perfectly hardy, and I am 

 satisfied that with slight winter protection they will prove so in 

 the Eastern States. Carl Purdy. 



THE yELLOW-HAIRED PORCUPINE. 



A very large and fine specimen of Erethizon epizanthus, one 

 of some eight or ten individuals which have been taken in Lane 

 county, Oregon, during the past decade, has recently been 

 brought to me for preparation. The animal was covered on the 

 upper parts and sides with a dense growth of short spines, be- 

 coming thinner and merging through thickened spinous hairs to 

 coarse bristles on the sides, and especially on the inferior caudal 

 surface. On the under portions ot the hmbs, as well as the me- 

 dial portion of the belly and the muzzle there were no spines. 



Under fur rather soft, dark sooty-brown, almost concealed by 

 the spines and bristles, which latter are in some parts six or even 

 eight inches long. The bristles in this specimen seem to differ 

 from Brandt's type by being penultimaiely tipped instead of ex- 

 tremely tipped with greenish yellow, the yellow in this individual 

 being displaced at the tips by the prevailing color of dark brown 

 in nearly all the bristles. The spines are greenish yellow tipped 

 with dark brown. Brandt described the extreme bases of the 

 bristles as yellowish, while in this specimen the yellow extended 

 at least one-fourth the entire length of the spines, or in some of 

 them two inches from the base. 



This porcupine li^'es in burrows formed in the ground by itself, 

 is nocturnal in habits, and strctly herbivorous, the teeth being ad- 

 mirably formed for a vegetable diet. Formula of the teeth: in- 

 cisors, — ; molars, ti=:2o. 

 i-i '4-4 



They are reputed to be quite destructive in gardens in some 

 places, but are too few in numbers in this region probably to be- 

 come greatly noted in this particular. The ruthless war waged 

 upon them by man — almost their only foe after reaching maturity 

 — reduces their number every year. Aurelius Todd. 



Miss Alice Eastwood, of Denver, Colorado, the present Secre- 

 tary of the Colorado Biological Association, has bsen extending 

 her acquaintance with flowers by a botanical excursion through 

 southern California. 



