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Show 234 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON ANIMALS IN THE MENAGERIE. [Mai*. 7, cranial characters, it agreed with II. leucura in the shape of the and intermaxillary bones, but that there were some other minor differences which might be sufficient to confirm the species. After being some time in the Gardens, our Orange-quilled Porcupines gradually lost the splendid orange-colour in their quills and became undistinguishable in external appearance from other Indian specimens. Under these circumstances, I cannot doubt that the colour of the quills is merely due to some local variation, probably to some particular food which they consume; and I have therefore reduced Hystrix malabarica to a synonym with H. leucura *. 19. HYSTRIX LONGICAUDA, Marsden. Under the name Acanthochoerusf grotei Dr. Gray described and figured in 1866 (P. Z. S. p. 306, pl. xxi.) a Porcupine then lately received by the Society from Mr. Arthur Grote, F.Z.S. Dr. Gray gives the locality of this animal as " India ; " but upon application to the donor I ascertained that it had really been received from Malacca, having been procured for Mr. Grote from the jungles of that settlement by Capt. Maddison, of one of the Straits Mail Steamers J. In 1868 (July 20) Mr. Grote presented us with a second specimen of the same Porcupine, obtained from the same locality as the former one. This, as well as the former, is still alive and doing well in the Society's Gardens. In such a difficult group as the Porcupines it is prudent to examine specimens perfectly before making many remarks on them. I shall therefore, for the present, merely state that I consider the so-called Acanthochcerus grotei to be the same as the Porcupine figured in Marsden's 'Sumatra' (pl. 13. p. 118) as Hystrix longicauda, and that it has other synonyms. The animals of the settlement of Malacca are well known to be mostly" the same as those of Sumatra, so that it would be primd facie probable that the Porcupines of the two countries would be identical. I am aware that Hystrix lonyicauda is considered by Blyth and Jerdon (Ind. M a m m . p. 221) to be the same as Hystrix hodgsoni of * Dr. Jerdon (Mamm. of India, p. 218) follows Mr. Blyth in dividing the Crested Porcupines of India into two species, H. leucura and H. bengalensis, and refers H. malabarica to the latter, from information received from Mr. Blyth. t As regards the genus Acanthochoerus, it is sufficient to observe that the typical species of this genus (A. bartletti, Gray, P. Z. S. I860, p. 310) is based upon a hybrid Porcupine bred in the Surrey Zoological Gardens between H. javanica and H. cristata. Dr. Gray had previously founded his Acanthion flemingii (P. Z. S. 1847, p. 103) upon another hybrid bred by the same pair of Porcupines. In his last paper on Porcupines (P. Z. S. 1861, p. 307), Dr. Gray states that he '• thinks it probable " that there may have been some mistake in the account of the hybridism of these Porcupines which is most circumstantially given by Mr. Waterhouse, Hist. M a m m . ii. p. 307; but on referring to Mr. Bartlett, from whom Mr. Waterhouse derived his information, Mr. Bartlett assures m e that at the period when he made the inquiries he was assisting Mr. Waterhouse in his work on the Eodents, and that he has no doubt whatever that the information he supplied was correct. It is important that this should be stated in order to save great trouble and perplexitv to future workers on the Porcupines \ See P. Z.S. 1866, p. 417. |