164 
THE MAMMALS OF EGYPT. 
Erinaceus AEBiVENTRis, AVagner. 
Erinacexis aJb'ivenlris, Wagner^ Schreb. Saug. Suppl. ii. 1841, p. 22 ; Anderson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 
1895, p. 420. 
Erinaceus pruneri, Wagner, Scbreb. Sang. Suppl. ii. 1841, p. 23. 
Erinaceus heterodactylus, Sundev. Vetensk.-Akad. Handl. (1841), Stockholm, 1842, p. 227. 
Erinaceus diadematus, Prinz Paul, Riippell, Mus. Senck. t. iii. 1845, p. 159 (nomen nudum) ; 
Fitzing. SB. Ak. Wien, 1867, Ivi. i. p. 853. 
This is the only other species of hedgehog which occurs in the Nile Valley. It is 
the smallest member of the genus and belongs to the group of which the European 
hedgehog {E. europoeus) is the type; having spines which are not outwardly grooved 
and are free from nodosities, the skull chai acterized by very small auditory chambers, 
and the postglenoid process of the squamosal smaller than the mastoid. The ears are 
shorter than the spines, and the fur is harsh ; the feet and toes are very short. This 
species is, moreover, distinguished from all other members of the genus by the absence 
of the hallux or first toe of the hind foot. 
The specimen upon which Wagner founded this species came, in all probability, 
from Senegambia. It has the whole of the fur cream-white. The Nile Valley and 
East-African specimens, which maybe more definitely registered Erinaceus albicentris 
subsp.^rwwm, have the front of the face to around the eyes, the chin, the ears, and the 
lower portions of the limbs brown. 
This species is found to the south of Khartum. Mr. H. F. Witherby ^ obtained 
several specimens at Gebel Auli; it ranges into Somaliland and as far south as 
Kilima-njaro. 
Hedgehogs are found represented in tombs of some of the earliest Dynasties, and 
are usually associated with agricultural or hunting scenes. In the Tomb of the 
Overseer or Master-huntsman, Amten or Meten, we find, in the inner grave-chamber, 
in which the deceased is almost invariably portrayed with the surroundings of his home- 
life, a pictorial record which includes some small desert animals, amongst which are 
recognizable a hedgehog, a hare, and ^jerboa. This tomb is of the IVth Dynasty and 
occurs at the Pyramids of Abusir. The portion of the inner chamber is in the 
Egyptian collection at Berlin ^ and is figured by Lepsius 
In the Tomb of Ptah-hotep at Sakkarah, of the Vth Dynasty, we find on the east 
wall a hunting-scene in which two hedgehogs are represented, the first emerging 
1 Bird Hunting on the White Nile, 1902, p. 59. 
2 Kgl. Higypt. Mus. Berlin. Kab. (1899) no. 1105, pp. 45 & 46. 
3 Denkm. Ahth. ii. Bl. 3. 
* Egypt Bxpl. Fund, Ptah-hotep I. pis. xxii. & xxvi. 
