1871.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON ANIMALS IN THE MENAGERIE. 233 



18. Hystrix cristata, Linn. 



We have had in the Gardens of late years a considerable number 

 of Porcupines of the group allied to Hystrix cristata, from Western 

 and Southern Africa and from India. I have hitherto referred the 

 Western-African specimens to H. cristata, the Southern-African to 

 H. africce australis, Peters, and the Indian specimens to H. leucura, 

 Sykes. At the same time, I must observe that the task of distin- 

 guishing these species by external characters is by no means an easy 

 one, and that, in the event of the animals getting together, it would 

 not be always very easy to recognize them again. 



At the present time we have in the Gardens two Porcupines from 

 India, and one from Ceylon, which we refer to H. leucura. The two 

 Indian specimens (both presented by Colonel Thomson, Aug. 25, 

 1865) * have very little white on the point of the crest, a line of 

 white spines down the centre of the lower back, and the long quills 

 of the back with long white terminations. These are just the cha- 

 racters attributed to the Indian Porcupine {Hystrix leucura sive 

 hirsutirostris) by Mr. Waterhouse in his excellent 'History of Mam- 

 malia ' (vol. ii. p. 454). The Ceylonese specimen (presented by Mr. 

 Oswald Brodie in 1864) is very nearly similar, but has no white at 

 all, or next to none, on the crest. 



Of African Porcupines of the H. cristata group we have now two 

 living examples. In one, said to be from West Africa (purchased 

 May 1869), the crest is broadly ended with white, there is no mesial 

 line of white spines on the back, and the white ends of the long 

 quills of the back are much shorter, so that the quills are generally 

 altogether blacker. 



The second, presented by the Duke of Edinburgh in November 

 1860, and said to have been brought from the Cape Colony, generally 

 resembles the West-African specimen, but is larger, and has a white 

 mesial line of spines on the back, as in H. leucura. It has the crest 

 broadly tipped with white as in the West-African specimen. This 

 I suppose to be Hystrix africce-australis of Peters (Reise n. Mos. 

 Mamm. p. 170). At the same time I must confess that I am not 

 very well satisfied with these determinations. 



I do not intend for a moment to deny that the three species men- 

 tioned above may not be separated by external characters, as well as 

 by their well-known cranial differences ; but living Porcupines are 

 not easy animals to examine, and in the many inspections I have 

 made of our specimens I have not been able to make out any more 

 positive characters by which to distinguish them. 



In 1865, I described and figured in the Society's • Proceedings ' 

 (p. 352, pi. xvi.), under a name previously given by Mr. Day, some 

 examples of the " Orange-quilled Porcupine " of Malabar, which had 

 then been recently received from Col. Sir W. T. Dennison. In my 

 description of this supposed species I pointed out that, as regards its 



* According to their labels. But this pair bred in 1866 ; and when the young 

 pair were sold, Mr. Bartlett suspects that one of the old pair was sent away in 

 error instead of one of the younger pair. 



