1847.] On a new Species of Porcupine. 773 



organs, which are nude. The amis is large and tumid, being almost 

 entirely surrounded, just within the sphincter, by two rope-like glands, 

 whose extremities nearly meet on the mesial line above and below. 

 The secretion of these glands is puss-like but void of odour good or 

 bad, and is carried off by several palpable pores placed in close apposi- 

 tion with the glands and of which 4 larger and 6 smaller ones may be 

 plainly traced round the margin of the anus. The penis is sheathed as 

 in the dogs, but is directed backwards, pointing ordinarily to the anus, 

 and is furnished with a cylindric bone \\ inch long. The testes are 

 internal. The teats are 8 and are costal, or placed upon the ribs or 

 flanks. The very large incisors are nut-brown. The molars, which are 

 4 on each side, above and below, have perfectly flat crowns, hardly 

 raised above the level of the gums, and whose surface is transversely 

 marked by a triple fold of enamel, like three or four bits of thread 

 with the ends brought together and the sides approximated curvewise, 

 pretty much as in the Beaver, according to Cuvier's* delineation. The 

 intestines are 30| feet long. The Coecum, about 11 to 12 inches 

 long and 2f wide, is placed 6 feet from the anal end of the gut, and 

 is sacced and banded, as well as 27 inches of the intestinal canal below 

 it. This cceciform part of the gut has the same width as the ccecum 

 itself. The small gut has an average width of f inch, and the great 

 gut of 1^- or double. 



The hemispherical stomach has the upper orifice opening centrally, 

 and the lower, terminally, and with a well defined neck. The greater 

 arch of the stomach is 18 inches, the lesser (between the orifices) 1 

 to 2 inches, exclusive of the neck just spoken of. The stomach is 

 membranous.- — Porcupines are very numerous and very mischievous in 

 the sub-Himalayas where they depredate greatly among the potatoe and 

 other tuberous or edible rooted crops. They are most numerous in the 

 central region, but are common to all three regions. They breed in 

 spring and usually produce two young about the time the crops begin 

 to ripen. They are monogamous, the pair dwelling together in burrows 

 of their own formation. Their flesh is delicious, like pork, but much 

 more delicate-flavoured, and they are easily tamed so as to breed in 

 confinement, All tribes and classes, even high caste Hindoos eat them, 



• Regne Animal, Vol. III. p. 96. 



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