NOTES ON THE PORCUPINES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA 
AND ARCHIPELAGO. 
By Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr., 
Assistant Chiraior, Division Mammals, U. 8. National Museum 
The following- notes are of a preliminary nature only, and are 
written with the idea of bringing together in one place a consideration 
of the systematic names of the Malayan porcupines and the characters 
by which these animals are arranged into natural groups, both of 
which considerations are at present scattered through various publi¬ 
cations. The main features brought out in this paper are the division 
of the Old World porcupines into two subfamilies; the revival of 
Cuvier’s name Aeanthion as a genus for the short-tailed Malayan 
porcupines; the revival of Li mucus's name llyatrix brachyvra as the 
proper specific designation of the short-tailed porcupine of the Malay 
Peninsula; the description, of a new genus and species of short-tailed 
porcupine collected in northern Sumatra by Dr. W. L, Abbott in 1006; 
and the description of a new species of At&erurwt frum Pulo Torutan, 
off the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. The presence of two dis¬ 
tinct genera of long-tailed porcupines in the Malayan region caused 
considerable confusion in the use of names by the older writers, but 
dentink," in 1804, clearly pointed out the true status of these groups. 
Seim was well acquainted with three of the four genem of Old World 
porcupines that have been recognized up to the present time, and it 
was largely from his descriptions and plates that Limuuis in the tenth 
edition of the Systems! Naturae based three names of the Old World 
porcupines, which at that time were regarded us so many distinct 
species and not as distinct generic types as they have since been con¬ 
sidered. 
It is to regretted that more examples of the typical genus Jlyatrim 
have not been available in the preparation of these notes for deter¬ 
mining the true status of the genus, Amnthion^ which has usually been 
« Notes Leyden Museum, XVI, 1S$H, p, 205. 
Proceedings U. S, National Museum, Vol XXXII— No. 1552. 
Proc. N. M. vol. xxxii—07-37 
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