SIZE.--Head and body, 5.36 inches.

NO. 155. ERINACEUS JERDONI (_Anderson_).

HABITAT.--Sind, Punjab frontier.

DESCRIPTION.--Muzzle moderately long and pointed; ears large, round
at tip and broad at base; feet large, especially the fore-feet; claws
strong. The spines begin on a line with the anterior margins of the
ears; large nude area on the vertex; spines with two white and three
black bands, beginning with a black band. When they are laid flat
the animal looks black; but an erection the white shows and gives
a variegated appearance.

SIZE.--Head and body about 7-1/2 inches.

NO. 156. ERINACEUS MEGALOTIS.
_The Large-eared Hedgehog_.

HABITAT.--Afghanistan.

More information is required about this species. Jerdon seems to
think it may be the same as described by Pallas (_E. auritus_), which
description I have before me now ('Zoographica Rosso Asiatica,' vol.
i. page 138), but I am unable to say from comparison that the two
are identical--the ears and the muzzle are longer than in the common
hedgehog. This is the species which he noticed devouring blistering
beetles with impunity. It has a very delicate fur of long silky white
hairs, covering the head, breast and abdomen, "forming also along
the sides a beautiful ornamental border" (_Horsfield_, from a
specimen brought from Mesopotamia by Commander Jones, I.N.)

The space to which I am obliged to limit myself will not allow of
my describing at greater length; but to those of my readers who are
interested in the Indian hedgehogs, I recommend the paper by Dr. J.
Anderson in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal' for 1878,
page 195, with excellently drawn plates of the heads, skulls and feet
of the various species. There is one peculiarity which he notices
regarding the skull of _E. collaris_ (or, as he calls it,
_micropus_): the zygomatic arch is not continuous as in the other
species, but is broken in the middle, the gap being caused by the
absence of the _malar_ or cheek-bone. In this respect it resembles,
though Dr. Anderson does not notice it, the _Centetidae_ or _Tanrecs_
of Madagascar.

Dr. Anderson's classification is very simple and good. He has two
groups: the first, containing _E. micropus_ and _E. pictus_, is
distinguished by the _second upper premolar simple, one-fanged, the
feet club-shaped; soles tubercular_. The second group, containing
_E. Grayi_, _E. Blanfordi_ and _E. Jerdoni_, has _the second upper
premolar compound, three-fa