1878.] of the Oenus Erinaceus. 201 



insides of the limbs are still less so. The spines are rather fine, about 0"83 

 of an inch long, very sharp and marked with from 17 to 22 ridges and fur- 

 rows, the former generally broader than the latter, and covered with minute 

 shining tubercles. The apex of each spine is white and is succeeded by a 

 narrow dark brown band which gives a brown and white speckled appear- 

 ance to the animal. The remainder of each spine is yellow or orange yellow. 

 The seminude skin of the anterior third of the head is leaden-coloured, a 

 hue that extends on to the chin. The hairs on the second or middle third 

 of the head form a broad brown band which embraces the eye, passes back- 

 wards behind the angle of the mouth, over the under surface of the neck as 

 a dark brown collar. A brown spot at the upper angle of the ear. A 

 broad white band behind the brown band and the spines of the forehead, 

 passing downwards before the cars on to the sides of the neck and throat, 

 behind the brown band, and continuous with the white of the under parts ; 

 chin and whiskers white, and sides of chin brownish. The lower halves of 

 the limbs clad with brown hairs, also the tail. The inguinal region and 

 lower abdomen clad with brown hairs with an intermixture of white. 



The leading features of this species are its short snout and head, short 

 club-shaped feet as compared with E. grayi^ E. hlanfordi, and E. jerdoni ; 

 its slightly longer feet as compared with E. pictus^ which are, however, of 

 the same type ; its not long ears, slightly shorter than in the latter ; its 

 white and brown tipped spines, orange or yellow ; and a brown collar over 

 the forehead, between the eyes, behind the angle of the mouth and across 

 the throat. 



The skull is distinguished by its short broad character, but in this re- 

 spect it is inuch narrower than the skull of E. p ictus. In the former, the 

 breadth across the zygomata falls short considerably of two thirds of the 

 length, whereas in E. pictus, breadth and sharpness are marked fea- 

 tures of the skull, combined with a greater post -orbital contraction than in 

 E. micropus, and, in the adult male, the breadth generally equals two thirds 

 of the length. The complete absence of the malar bone is another charac- 

 ter which separates it from E. pictus, from which it is also distinguished by 

 the small size of its 2 upper premolars. 



The following are some measurements of E. micropus. 



$ $ $ 



Length of body and head, 6'65 6" 05 5" 90 



„ of tail, 0"45 0"53 0''57 



Height of ear, ri5 I" Oo r02 



Breadth of ear, 0"80 0"78 0"76 



Snouttoeye, T'OO 0"94 0*94 



Eye to ear, 0"40 0"31 0"38 



Length of hind foot without claw, ... 1"15 m 1" 15 

 Breadth at 5th toe, 0"36 0''40 0*30 



