158 
THE MAMMALS OE EGYPT. 
The skull is rather narrow, with moderately broad muzzle; the greatest diameter is 
found towards the maxillary portion of the zygomatic arch; the auditory bullae are 
moderately developed, the postglenoid process of the squamosal and the mastoid 
process are about equal in size and are not inflated; the pterygoids are solid with 
deep lateral fossae; the palatal foramina entire and well defined; the second upper 
premolar is three-rooted, well formed, and placed in line with the other teeth. 
Measurements of skulls. 
d. 
Alexandria. 
Cairo. 
Astrakan, Eussia. 
mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
Greatest length (bone only) . 
... 47 
45 
46 
„ width. 
26-5 
29 
Basal length (middle line) . . 
... 44 
41 
(c.) 43 
Palatal length. 
... 25 
24 
25-5 
Width outside l. 
... 17 
17-5 
18 
,, „ auditory meatus , 
. . . 22-5 
23 
23 
1 never personally captured the hedgehog of Lower Egypt, but no difficulty was ever 
experienced in obtaining examples by the aid of native collectors. 
This species frequents the margin of the desert, as at Abu Eoash, where it was 
found among fallen blocks of rock ; it is also not uncommon in the stony, semi-arid 
areas of the Delta. The fact of its habits being almost exclusively nocturnal is the 
real explanation of the little that is known about it. 
Its native name, ‘Konfud’ or ‘ Ganfud,’ is a term likewise applied to the 
hedgehog of the Upper Nile, E. CBthiopicus, Ehr. 
The distribution of this species in the north-east corner of Africa has yet to 
be worked out. It occurs in the eastern portion of the Libyan Desert, as well as in 
Lower Egypt, but how far it extends southwards in the direction of Nubia has yet to 
be ascertained; at Dongola it is replaced by the species next described in this work. 
To the north-east of Egypt it has a wide distribution, even to Central Asia, the 
Caucasus, and into Eussia; it is also found in the island of Cyprus, 
In the types of E. libycus preserved in the Berlin Museum the spines are somewhat 
more coarsely grooved than in an example collected by Eversmann in the Kirgis 
Steppe, and the nodosities separating the furrows are more strongly pronounced. 
These features of the spines are variable when a considerable number of individuals 
are examined. The number of ridges is also variable. In the types of E. libycus there 
are 22 ridges on the spines. In a specimen from Eussia which I have examined 
the spines are somewhat longer than in the Egyptian examples, but the number of 
ridges is practically the same, namely 23. In hedgehogs from the Kirgis Steppe there 
are 21 ridges on some of the spines, and 25 on others. In this species the apical 
