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THE MAMMALS OE EGYPT. 
HYSTEICID^. 
HYSTRIX. 
Hystrix, Linnaeus^ Syst. Nat. x. 1758, p. 56. 
Form heavy, tail and legs short, plantigrade. 
Muzzle very deep, ears short and rounded. 
The fore parts, the under surface, and the legs are covered with short spines; the 
nape to the shoulder with long, tapering bristles. From the shoulders backwards the 
body is covered with strong rigid spines. At the end of the short tail there is a bunch 
formed of small, sharp, rigid spines, and hollow, inflated, open-ended quills with thin 
1.air-like stalks. 
Ill the skull the nasal cavity is greatly enlarged; the brain is of peculiar structure. 
1 13 
Dentiiion : i. j, pm. p, m. g = 20. 
Hystrix ceistata, Linn. (Plate LV.) 
Hystrix cristata, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. x. 1758, p. 56; id. ibid. xii. 1766, p. 76; Er.xleb. Syst. Reg. 
Anim. 1777, p. 340; Schreb. Saug. iv. 1792, pis. 166, 167; F. Cuv. Mem. Mus. ix. 1822, 
p. 430, pi. 20 bis, figs. 1, 2; id. Mamm. 1821, pi. 269; Waterh. Mamm. ii. 1848, p. 448 ; Sclater, 
Proc. Zool. Soe. 1871, p. 233; et auct. 
Acanthion cuvieri, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1847, p. 102. 
The head, legs, and all the under parts are black or brown-black, with the exception 
of a crescent-shaped band of white-pointed spines on the chest. From the crown of 
the head to behind the shoulders, where the long quills commence, there is a high 
crest of long, finely tapered, flexible bristles, dusky or black for a variable distance 
basally, with white tips. On the fore part of the back some of the large quills are very 
long and curved, reaching to beyond the tip of the tail; on the hind-quarters the 
spines or quills are very strong; they diminish in length towards the base of the tail, 
then again become longer and very strong; the short tail, which is hidden among 
these strong spines, has a bunch of stalked, hollow-ended quills, which cause a curious 
rustling noise when the animal moves, or which rattle among the clattering of the 
spines when the animal is excited. All the quills are black and white in broad rings, 
or white basally and black distally, but variable. 
Measurements of an adult female from the hills behind Suakin:—Snout to vent 
650 mm. ; vent to tip of tail 100; length of tarsus 100; snout to eye 81; length 
of eye 11 ; eye to ear 40 ; height of ear 42. 
