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Show 738 DR. A. GtTNTHER ON NEW MAMMALS. [Nov. 7, as an incisor. The prevailing hue of the head and fore part of the body is a greyish brown; but towards the large quills the spines are getting whitish at the tip and base. The basal half of the large quills is white, the apical half black with white tip. Slender quills white, with black subcentral ring. Legs blackish*. Lower jaw of Hystrix crassispinis. in. lin. 0 Length of body from tip of nose to root of tail 17 0 Length from nose to ear ** Length of tail with terminal quills Length of fore foot * " Length of hind foot 3 0 Length of one of the largest quills 7 0 Length of one of the hollow caudal quills 6 0 Mr. Low brought home four specimens of this species. The existence of a Porcupine in Borneo has been repeatedly mentioned, for instance by Miiller, Verhandl. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Overz. Bezitt. p. 36 (under the erroneous name of Hystrix fasciculata), and by W . Marshall, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 235, who refers a very young example in the Leyden Museum to Marsden's H. longicauda from Sumatra. From the notes of the Dutch naturalists it is impossible to decide whether the specimens examined by them belong to our species, or whether a second species exists in the island, approaching in size, and perhaps identical with, the Sumatran or Malaccan form. The Skull (figs. 1, la, pp. 737-8) is distinguished by the shortness of the nasal bones, which are shorter than, or as long as, the frontal suture. The anterior portion of the frontal region is not very convex. Ascending ramus of the intermaxillary broad, about as broad as one of the nasal bones. Infraorbital opening of comparatively moderate width. The palatal incision advancing forwards to the front margin of the hinder molar. * O n the inner side of one of the skins, in which the subcutaneous tissues have been cleared away, the arrangement of the large quills m a y be distinctly seen. These quills are not uniformly distributed over the hinder half of the back, but their roots are collected in bundles of five, six, or seven, the bundles having the appearance of imbricated pectinated scales. The roots of the largest and thickest quills occupy the middle of each scale or bundle. A similar arrangement has been figured by F. Cuvier, Nouv. Ann. Mus. Paris, i. pl. xv. fig. 1. |