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 Centetidæ 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-fanged, and the feet well developed and broad. The first group has also a division or bare area on the vertex; the second has not.
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