1878.] of the Gemc.<i 'Erinacens. 107 



always in the line of the other teeth and always large and is never prema- 

 turely shed. 



The first premolar also of the lower jaw is relatively smaller than in 

 the species just enumerated, and it is smaller in JEJ. micropits than in ^. 

 pictus. 



There is a remarkable circumstance connected with E. micropus. In 

 examining the different species of Indian hedgehogs, I was in the habit of 

 having their skulls removed and cleaned for examination, and in having this 

 done with E. micropus I was always disappointed on receiving back the 

 skulls from the osteologist to find what I supposed was a broken zygomatic 

 arch, owing to careless manipulation. The Museum osteologist, however, 

 persisting in asserting that he was most careful in preparing the skulls, and 

 that he had not injured them, I had a careful dissection made from without 

 inwards on to the zygomatic arch, and I was astonished to find that there 

 was no trace of a malar bone in any specimens of E. micropus examined 

 by me, 4 in all. This fresh dissection showed that the interval between the 

 zygomatic process of the squamous and the malar process of the maxillary 

 is bridged over by tendon, and that therefore this South Indian hedgehog 

 stands alone in this remarkable feature. Such a variation on the normal 

 structure of the skull of a hedgehog was not to be anticipated, as there is no 

 weakening of the zygomatic arch in any of the other species. Even in the 

 allied species E. pictus, the malar is strongly developed. An examination of 

 the free ends of the process of the maxillae and squamous shews that this 

 observation is perfectly accurate, as there is no indication whatever of any 

 specialized surface on which a malar could rest, and which is always easily 

 observable in skulls of other species in which the malar has been lost. 



Notwithstanding this anomalous character, I am disposed to attach 

 more weight to the character of the second upper premolar in this species 

 than to the absence of its malar, which is an intense specific variation, 

 whereas the other which is common to two species very closely allied in other 

 details of their structure would seem to be almost entitled to sub-generic 

 rank. 



These two forms, E. micropus and E. pictus, notwithstanding the fore- 

 going difference in the skulls, are externally so alike that they might be 

 mistaken for one another. Not only is their coloration almost identical, 

 but the form of their heads is much the same ; and more important, their 

 fore feet more especially differ essentially in shape from the fore feet of all 

 the other Asiatic species of hedgehogs (see figs, e and^, PL III, and com- 

 pare with fig./*, PI. IV). Both of these species are characterized by their 

 feet being short, club-shaped, and tubercular on the soles, whereas in such 

 forms as E. grayi and the other Asiatic hedgehogs, the feet are not club- 



