956 



MR. W, E. DE WTNTON ON 



[Dec. 14, 



bridge is broader in this species, owing to the postnarial aperture 

 being somewhat boned over ; they agree, however, in the form of 

 the pterygoids and in the width and formation between the auditory 

 bullae. The dentition (fig. 2) shows considerable differences ; the 



rig. 2. 



Skull of Erinaceus algirus (side view). 1^ nat. size. 



most marked are as follows : — the very small \l3 grows diagonally 

 from behind, or on the inner side of li_?, so that when viewed from 

 the side the base does not appear, and in aged animals when the 

 teeth are somewhat worn looks simply like a horizontally projecting 

 cusp of ]iA (the smallness of this tooth led the describers to suppose 

 that in the type specimen it was abnormally backward in develop- 

 ment) ; while in E. europcms this tooth ^™- -^) is in the row and about 

 I of the size of !::§_; the tall premolar in the lower jaw has only a 

 very slight notch between the two outer cusps, and the inner 

 cusp is almost entirely wanting. The most remarkable feature in 

 the dentition of E. ah/ints, and which will distinguish it at once 

 from E. europaus, is the number and form of the roots in the 

 usually single-rooted teeth ; in one specimen of the present col- 

 lection '^lA has three distinct roots ; the canines have two roots 

 widely separated forming a distinct V, while in E. europceus it is 

 the exception for this tooth to be double-rooted, and then the 

 roots lie close together; the premolars are also two- or three-rdoted, 

 with the fangs widely divergent. 



The British Museum contains a specimen of E. algirus, pre- 

 sented by Lord Lilford, said to have come from Andalusia; if this 

 locality is correct (and there is every reason to suppose it is), 

 the fact is of particular interest, adding another to the list of 

 North-African species found in the Spanish Peninsula ; and the 

 interest is further enhanced because E. euroijceiis certainly occurs 

 in the neighbourhood of Seville. Thus these two forms would be 

 living side by side. 



