NATURAL HISTORY. 



Ill 



Family II Hystricidse. (Tcrrp^, a Porcupine. Porcupine kind.) 



Sub-family a. Hystricina. 



IIYSTRIX. 



Cristata (Lat. crested), the Porcupine. 



The COMMON PORCUPINE is found in Africa, Tartary, Persia, 

 India, and some parts of Europe. It lives in holes which it 

 digs in the ground, and only comes forth at night in order to 

 feed. It eats vegetable substances only, such as roots, bark, 

 &c. The array of spines or quills \vith which this animal is 

 covered forms its principal means of defence. If it cannot 

 escape, it suddenly stops, erects all its quills, and runs back- 

 wards against its adversary, striking the quills against him by 

 the weight of its body. Occasionally a looser quill than 

 usual remains in the wound or falls on the ground, which 

 evidently gave rise to the foolish error that the Porcupine 

 could dart its weapons at its adversary from a distance. 

 There are two kinds of these quills, one kind long and 

 curved, the other short, thick, and pointed. These last 

 are the weapons of defence, as the former are too slender to 

 do much service. When the Porcupine walks, its quills make 

 a kind of rustling sound, caused principally by those arranged 

 on the tail, which are large, hollow, and supported on long 



