214 Elll]yACEID,15. 



almost horizontally forward, then come on each side three small 

 teeth with ohlique cusps, the second of which is the canine and 

 the third the first premolar. The next tooth, or second premolar, 

 corresponds to the fourth lower premolar of (Jyninura, pm. 4 ; the 

 first molar is, as in the upper ia\A', the largest tooth in the jaw, the 

 second heing smaller and the third very small. 



The vertebral formula is C. 7, D. 15, L. 6, S. 7, C. 5-6. 



All the species possess skin-muscles more develojied than in any 

 other mammals, and those muscles enable hedgehogs to roll them- 

 selves into a liall for defensive purposes, the head and feet being 

 entirely concealed, and only spines exposed. 



The spines hi all hedgehogs are longitudinally marked with fine 

 grooves (or lirate). In. all the Indian species, and in some others, 

 the ridges between the grooves bear small tubercles. On the pre- 

 sence or absence of tubercles Fitzinger divided the genus and 

 called the tuberculate forms Ilemiechiims, but the character has no 

 generic importance. 



Dr. Anderson published, in 1878 (J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2), a 

 very useful monograph of the Indian s])ecies. The distribution 

 of the genus in India is peculiar, and confined to the north- 

 western portion (Baluchistan, Punjab, Sind, N.W. Provinces, and 

 neighbouring tracts), and to the Madras Presidency in the south. No 

 species has yet been recorded from the Central Provinces or Bengal. 



Si/noj)s{s of Indian Sjyecies. 



A. Spines on head without a naked furrow iu the 



middle; v^_2 three-rooted. 



a. Head and body about 7 inches; longest spines 



075 inch JE. coUaris, p. 215. 



b. Head and body nearly a foot ; longest spines 



exceeding an inch E. megalotis, p. 210. 



B. Spines on head divided into two groups by a 



naked furrow in the middle. 



a. Colour dark ; i'"- ^ three-rooted E. jerdoni, p. 216. 



h. Colour pale ; P"'- ^ Avith a single root. 



a'. Zygomatic arch perfect E. jn'rtvs, p. 217. 



b'. Zygomatic arch imjerfect ; malar abseut E. mieropys,Y).2l8. 



Very little is known of the habits of Indian hedgehogs, but they 

 probably closely resemble the European form E. euro^mns, except 

 in not hyhernating. The European hedgehog lives on insects, 

 worms, slugs, snails, mice, rats, and other small mammalia, lizards, 

 snakes, and any other small animals it can kill, also birds' eggs, 

 fruit, and roots. Blasius states that the young, from four to eight 

 in number, are born in July or August; but Dobson found the 

 number not to exceed four, and believes that the period of gt'sia- 

 tion does not exceed a month. He shows, too, that a sccoiul 

 brood is sometimes ])roduced in autumn. The young at Inrth 

 are almost naked, but the spines, at first soft, soon harden and 

 grow ia])idly, and the a)iimals attain their full growth in about 

 nine months. 



