ATHKRUEA. 445 



IJ . hodi/soni, the quills generally having the basal half x^hite, the rest 

 black, most of them with a white tip more or less developed, the 

 few long and flexible quills white with a nai-row black band about 

 the middle. Tail as in H. hodgsoni. 



The above is an abridged copy of Blyth's original description. 

 Jerdon gives the length of the head and body as 2S inches, tail 4. 



Distribution. Lower Bengal, Assam, Arrakan, and probably 

 Burma generally. Specimens have also been brought fi'omSikhim. 



I have not been able to examine a specimen of this species. 

 Anderson (An. Zool. lies. p. 333) describes the skull as closely 

 resembling that of H. lowjicauda (Marsden, History of Sumatra, 

 p. 118, pi. xiii), with which AcanthocJicenis grotei of Grray (P. Z. S. 

 1866, p. 310) is said to be identical (see Sclater, P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 234). Mr. Thomas has shown to me a skull with broad nasals 

 collected by Mr, Fea in Karennee, and agreeing fairly with 

 Anderson's description of that of //. benr/alensis. The frontals are 

 about half the length of the nasals, and the breadth of the nasals 

 in front is nearly the length of the frontals. Basal length 4-75 

 inches, zygomatic breadth 2-7. As I find a rudimentary crest in 

 some specimens of H. hodgsoni, the presence or absence of a small 

 crest is not a specific character. 



The skulls of If. Jongicauda (from Malacca, identified by Cantor) 

 and H. bengahnsis differ from that of H. hodgsoni in having the 

 nasal bones not more than twice the length of the frontals. The 

 crestless U. javanica, Cuv., from Java, and the small crested 

 H. yimnanensis (Anderson, An. Zool. Ees. p. 332), from Yunnan, 

 have the frontals nearly as long as the nasals. 



The remaining Asiatic forms of Hystrix besides H. yimnanensis 

 and H, javanica are the Chinese H. subcHstata, Swinhoe (P. Z. S. 

 1870, p. 638), and B. crassis/>Mu's, Griinther (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 736, 

 pi. Ixx), from Borneo. //. iniwUeri, Jentink (iS^otes Leyd. Mus. 

 1879, p. 87), from Sumatra, is identical with H. longicauda of 

 Cantor and others. 



Genus ATHERURA, Cuv. (1829). 



Tail elongate, about half, the length of the head and body, scaly, 

 with spiny bristles between the scales, and furnished with a tuft 

 of long bristles partly flattened at the end. Spines of body flattened 

 and grooved throughout, those of the lumbar region and rump not 

 greatly exceeding those of the shoulders in length. 



Skull much as in Hystrlv, but the nasal cavity is smaller and the 

 nasal bones shorter than the frontals. Dentition as in Hystriv. 



But a single species is found within Indian hmits and this is 

 restricted to the couuti'ies east of the Bay of Bengal. Formerly, 

 however, the genus must have existed in the Indian Peninsula, for 

 its teeth have been found in the Pleistocene cave-deposits of 

 Kuril ool. 



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