NDICA.

NATIVE NAME.--_Khanee_, Afghan.

HABITAT.--Afghanistan; Eastern Persia.

DESCRIPTION.--Fawn colour above; the hair with black tips and ashy
grey at the base; under-parts white; upper parts of thigh white; a
black spot behind and inside the thigh just below the white;
remainder of the outside and lower part of the inside of the thighs
brown; a white line running down the front, and extending over the
upper portion of the tarsi and feet; proximal portion of tarsus brown
at the sides. (_See_ 'Blanford's Eastern Persia,' vol. ii. p. 77.)
The tail is brown with a white tip; ears thinly clad with brown hairs;
head brown above, whitish around the eyes; whiskers black.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 inches; tail, 7 inches.

This animal is unfortunately named, as it is not Indian at all;
equally unfortunate, as Mr. Blanford has shown, is Blyth's name
_Bactrianus_, for it does not inhabit that tract, so the original
title stands. Hutton, in his 'Rough Notes on the Zoology of Candahar'
('J. A. S. B.' xv. p. 137), writes of it as follows: "This beautiful
little animal is abundant over all the stony plains throughout the
country, burrowing deeply, and when unearthed bounding away with
most surprising agility after the manner of the kangaroo-rat. It is
easily tamed, and lives happily enough in confinement if furnished
with plenty of room to leap about. It sleeps all day, and so soundly
that it may be taken from its cage and examined without awaking it;
or at most it will half open one eye in a drowsy manner for an instant,
and immediately close it again in sleep. It retires to its burrows
about the end of October, and remains dormant till the following
April, when it throws off its lethargy and again comes forth." There
is a good engraving of this animal in Cassel's new Natural History.

* * * * *

We have now closed our account of the Myomorpha or Mouse-like Rodents,
and will proceed to the next Section, HYSTRICOMORPHA, or
Porcupine-like Rodents.

SECTION III.--HYSTRICOMORPHA.
PORCUPINE-LIKE RODENTS.

This section contains six families, viz.:--

_Octodontidae_ = 3 sub-families, 18 genera.
_Hystricidae_ = 2 sub-families, 5 genera.
_Chinchillidae_ = 5 genera, of which two are fossil.
_Dasyproctidae_ = 2 genera.
_Dionymidae_ = 1 genus.
_Caviidae_ = 3 genera.

Of these we have to deal with but one, the second family,
_Hystricidae_, the rest belonging to Afric