MAMMALIA. 235 



the Arctic hare) to be followed, and obtained by the clumsy weapons of 

 the natives. After its first flight it appears, when again approached, to 

 regard its enemy with less concern, and thus enables the Arabs to secure 

 it, who usually require several discharges of their musket at short 

 distances and stationary objects. Apparently confined to Sinai and the 

 'Arabah, but will probably be found in Arabia. 



Lepus (ggyptius, Geoffr. Egyptian hare. This species was not unfre- 

 quent on both sides of the 'Arabah, where the embouchures of mountain 

 v/idies afforded more vegetation. It was seen at Wady Hariln, and on the 

 declivities abreast of Widy Hartan, on the opposite side of the 'Arabah, 

 in frequency. The Egyptian hare approaches our own hare in size. 



Hystrix cristata, Linn. Porcupine. Quills were picked up between 

 the 'Arabah watershed and the Dead Sea in several places, and at the 

 Dead Sea at both the northern and southern extremities. Captain 

 Burton obtained similar evidence of the porcupine, commonly in Midian 

 on the east side of the Red Sea to latitude 26° 30'. These were pro- 

 bably the same species, but Canon Tristram thinks the Asiatic species 

 {H. hirsutirostris) may occur. It is stated to have been obtained near 

 Jerusalem. The porcupine is found throughout the Mediterranean region 

 to Syria and Western Arabia. 



Acomys, sp. ? Porcupine mice. Species of this desert genus of 

 rodents appear to abound in the 'Arabah, but none were obtained. 

 Three forms — A. dimidiatus, Rupp. ; A, cahirrhinus, Geoff. ; and A. 

 russatus, Wagn. — have been taken in Sinai, all of which extend along 

 the 'Arabah to the Gh6r. They are very abundant in some of these 

 forms in the 'Arabah. Even on the barren summit of Jebel Usdum, a 

 most desolate and parched eminence of salt, chalk, and dust, I found 

 their burrows. In Sinai these were also observed in the higher widies, 

 but in no such abundance. The first of these species is found in Nubia, 

 Egypt, and Arabia Petraea ; the second is Egyptian. Mr. Wyatt obtained 

 these three mice about the convent of Mount Sinai, where also Mr. 

 Holland obtained a species of dormouse, Myoxus quercinus. 



Mus bactrianus, Blyth. Sandy mouse. This species is very abundant 



30—2 



