MUSTELA I'KXNANTI. ,Q 



different grounds, namely, its fondness for the flesh of the porcupine, 

 whose quills often prove fatal to it. I have several times found the 

 quills buried in their bodies, besides quantities of flesh, hair, and quills 

 in the stomach and excrements, and from this gained a point in bait- 

 ing them; let other trappers try it. They are an agile, muscular 

 animal, jumping from tree to tree like a squirrel, clearing a distance 

 of forty feet in a descending leap, never failing a secure grip."* 



During a recent visit to the north shore of the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence I was informed, both by an agent of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany and by the trappers themselves, that porcupines constitute a 

 large and important element in the food supply of the Pekan. Mr. 

 Nap. A. Comeau, of Godbout, who secured for me a large and hand- 

 some male of this species, tells me that its intestine contained hun- 

 dreds of porcupine quills, arranged in clusters, like so many packages 

 of needles, throughout its length. In no case had a single quill pene- 

 trated the mucous lining of the intestine, but they were, apparently, 

 passing along its interior as smoothly and surely as if within a tube 

 of glass or metal. Mr. Comeau could not discover a quill in any of 

 the abdominal viscera, or anywhere in the abdominal cavity, except- 

 ing as above stated. A great many, however, were found imbedded 

 in the muscles of the head, chest, back, and legs, and it was remarked 

 that their presence gave rise to no irritation, no products of inflam- 

 mation being discovered in their vicinity. In examining the partially 

 cleaned skeleton of this specimen I still find some of the quills in the 

 deep muscles and ligaments about the joints. A knee, in particular, 

 shows several in its immediate neighborhood. One is deeply im- 

 bedded in the dense ligament alongside the patella; three lie parallel 

 to and close against the tibia, and two can be seen between it and the 

 fibula. 



It is probable that all of these quills entered the body of the animal 

 while engaged in killing and devouring the porcupine, for those swal- 



* Forest and Stream, Vol. XII, No. 21, June 26, 1879, p. 405. 



