134 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



referable to Cocndou rothschildi. A specimen in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology from Boquete was collectedly H. J. Watson. 

 Specimens examined: Boquete, I. 1 



COENDOU ROTHSCHILDI Thomas 



Rothschild's Porcupine 



Coendou rothschildi Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, Ser. 7, Vol. 10, p. 169, 

 August, 1902 (see also Thomas, 1903a, p. 41). Type from Sevilla Island, 

 off Chiriqui, Panama. 



Rothschild's porcupine is readily distinguished from its Panama 

 congener, Coendou mcxicanum laetiatnm, by the exposed spiny 

 covering, the spines in the latter species being mainly concealed by 

 the long overlapping fur. 



C. rothschildi, based on five examples from Sevilla Island and one 

 from Brava Island, is a northern representative of a group mainly 

 South American in distribution. The type is described as a spinous 

 short-haired animal related to C. quichua Thomas of Ecuador. 



The principal differential characters given are the profusely white- 

 speckled back, and the rather larger skull with greater inflation above 

 the orbits and larger nasal opening. 



Specimens from Gatun and Rio Indio are provisionally referred 

 to this species. They differ somewhat from the description of the 

 type of C. rothschildi in the extent of the light basal color of the 

 dorsal spines. This color reaches less than one-half, instead of 

 three-fifths, the length of the spines, while the black subterminal band 

 occupies one-half or more of the total length. In one individual the 

 dorsal spines are black-tipped, the white tips being restricted to the 

 forehead and sides where they are sparingly distributed. 



In cranial characters these specimens conform closely with a series 

 of ten from Boqueron, which are assumed to be typical, and four of 

 which were erroneously recorded by Allen (1904, p. 70) as C. Icenatus. 



One of these porcupines, purchased from a native hunter at Gatun, 

 had its stomach distended with vegetable matter massed in two 

 colors ; a greenish part apparently leaves, and a white mass which 

 had the appearance of fruit pulp. The hunter reported locating two 

 in a tree by the light of a hunting lamp, but while he was securing 

 one the other escaped. In felling timber the animals are occasionally 

 dislodged from places of concealment among matted vines in the 

 tops of trees. 



1 Collection in Mus. Comp. Zool. 



