PORCUPINE Saru, BENG. Porco spinaso, . . IT.
. . FR. Salendra, . . Mum.
Stachelschwein, GER. Puerco espin, . . SP.
Saori, Gus. Yeddu pindi, . TEL.
Sarsel, . . . HIND.
Porcupine, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, is a name of several species of the genera Hystrix and Atherura, and, in America, of genera of the group Cercolabinm or Philodendreie more or, less arboreal. In British India, the species are known as the Indian porcupine, the Bengal porcupine, the crestless porcupine, and the Malay porcupine ; the crested porcupine belongs to Europe, and the African porcupine is the H.
Africa;-Australis, Peters. Of Ceylon porcupines, Dr. Kelaart is quite certain of Hystrix leucura, Sykes (H. Kirautirostris). Mr. Blyth compared it with Waterhouse's description, and it quite corre sponds; so that H. Zeylonensis makes a second species of the genus in Ceylon. He terms it H. etava. In Ceylon the porcupine is destructive to the young cocoanut palms, to which it is a pernicious and persevering, but withal so crafty, a visitor, that it is with difficulty any trap can be so disguised, or any bait made so alluring, as to lead to its capture. The usual expedient in Ceylon is to place some of its favourite food at the extremity of a trench, so narrow as to prevent the porcupine turning, whilst the direction of his quills effectually bars his retreat backwards. On a newly-planted cocoanut tope at Hang-wellc, within a few miles of Colombo, Sir J. E. Tennant had heard of as many as twenty-seven being thus captured in a single night ; but such success is rare. The more ordinary expedient is to smoke them out by burning straw at the apertures of their burrows. At Ootacamund, spring-guns have been used with great success, placing them so as to sweep the' runs of the porcupines. A planter on the Neilgherries recommends that a single-barrel pistol be procured and an iron rat trap • the pistol must be placed so that on being discharged the shot will sweep the gap or entrance.
In this position it must be firmly fastened. The trap is then to be set, the compressed spring let in between the trigger and trigger guard of the piece, and tied to a peg ; then a string blackened with ink attached to the plate of the trap is stretched loosely along the gun and across the gap, and fastened,—so that nothing can pass in without touching it. As the cord is loose, the animal in entering gets well opposite the gun before it tightens and springs the trap, the piece having been placed on full-cock is of course fired by the rising of the trap-spring. A pistol is much better than a gun, because the latter has to be set horizontally, in which case it is very liable to miss or only wound the animal it is set for ; a pistol can be placed vertically, in which case it cannot but hit anything passing through the gap under it. The flesh is esteemed a deli cacy in Ceylon, and in consistency, colour, and flavour it very much resembles young pork.
Atherura fasciculata, the Malay porcupine, is found on the Tiperah Hills, and thence south wards to the Malay Peninsula. It has a much larger tail than the true porcupines, ending in a tuft of long bristles. The spines of the back are less elongated.
Ilystrix Bengalensis, Blyth, Bengal porcupine, is the H. Malabarica, Sclater, and is found in Travan core, Cochin, S. Malabar, Bengal, Assam, and Arakan. Length, head and body 28 inches, tail 8 inches. In Malabar its flesh is more esteemed than that of the common variety.
Hystrix leucura, Sykes, Indian porcupine.
H. hirsuti-rostris, Brandt. H. ciistata Indica, Gray, H. Zeylanensis, Blytla. I Hard.
Sajru, . . . . BENG. Sand, . . . . HIND.
Yed, CAN Salendra, . . . 11Imirt.