Part 70 (1/2)

NO. 401. ALACTAGA INDICA.

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 _Bactria.n.u.s_, for it does not inhabit that tract, so the original t.i.tle 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 Ca.s.sel'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 Africa in part, but the majority to the American continent, chiefly South America.

I give the general characteristics of the section as laid down by Mr. Alston:--

”One premolar above and below (except in _Ctenodactylus_); grinding teeth rooted or rootless, not tuberculate; frontals with no distinct post-orbital processes (except in _Chaetomys_); infra-orbital opening large, sub-triangular, or oval; zygomatic arch proportionately stout; molar not advancing far forward, (except in _Ctenodactylinae_ and _Chinchillidae_) and not supported below by a continuation of the maxillary zygomatic process; incisive foramina small; foramina in the base of skull proportionally large; an inter-pterygoid fissure; mandible with its angular portion springing from the _outer side_ of the bony covering of the lower incisor, triangular, usually pointed behind; coronoid process small, and condyle low; clavicles perfect or imperfect; fibula persistent as a distinct bone throughout life; upper lip rarely cleft; m.u.f.fle clad with fine hairs; nostrils pointed above, sigmoid or linear; ears usually emarginate behind; tail hairy, sub-naked, or scaly.”--'P.

Z. S.,' 1876, p. 90.

As I have said before, we have only to do with the _Hystricidae_ or Porcupines, but many of the others are familiar by name. Of the _Octodontidae_ the best known is the coypu of the Andes, one of the largest of the rodents, and the ground-rat or ground-pig of western and southern Africa. The chinchilla, which is the typical form of the third family, is known to all, especially ladies, from its delicate soft fur. The agouti of South America is the representative of the _Dasyproctidae_. The family _Dinomyidae_ consists of one animal only, _Dinomys Branickii_; the only known example of which was obtained in Peru on the Montana de Vitoc. It was found walking about in a yard at daybreak, and showed so little fear of man that it suffered itself to be killed by the stroke of a sword. It is a pity no one was sensible enough to try and take it alive. As yet nothing is known of its habits. Of the last family, _Caviidae_, the cavy and the capybara are well known to travellers in South America, and the common guinea pig is familiar to us all.

FAMILY HYSTRICIDAE--THE PORCUPINES.

In this family the hairs of the body are more or less converted into spines or quills; the form of the skull is peculiar, being ovate, often greatly inflated with air cavities in the bones; the facial portion is broad and short; the malar portion of the zygomatic arch has no inferior angular process as in the _Octodontidae_; the occipital plane or hinder-surface is perpendicular, with a median ridge; the incisor teeth are large and powerful; the molars with external and internal folds, four in each jaw. The form is robust; limbs sub-equal; fore-feet with four toes, and a small wart-like thumb; hind-feet with four and five toes; tail long in some, short in others. There are two sub-families--_Sphingurinae_ and _Hystricinae_. With the genera of the first we have nothing to do.

They include the prehensile-tailed porcupines of South America, _Sphingurus prehensilis_, _S. villosus_, and _S. Mexica.n.u.s_, all arboreal forms, and the Canada porcupine (_Erythizon dorsatus_) which is covered with woolly hairs and spines intermixed. The true porcupines, sub-family _Hystricinae_, consist of two genera, both of which are represented in India--_Atherura_ and _Hystrix_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Skull of Porcupine.]