86 MAMMALIA. 



longest, and on each side three false molars, three bristled with 



points, and a small one sliidded with tubercles. (1) 



E. eurojjaeus, L.; Buff. VIII, vi. (The Common Hedgehog.) 

 Ears short; common in the woods and hedges ; passes the win- 

 ter in its burrow, whence it issues in the spring with an ampli- 

 tude and complication of the vesiculse seminales that is almost 

 incredible. To insects, which constitute its ordinary diet, it 

 adds fruit, by which at a certain age its teeth become worn. 

 The skin was formerly used to dress hemp. 



. auritus, Pall.; Schreb. CLXIII. (The Long-eared Hedge- 

 hog.) Smaller than the preceding; ears as large as the two- 

 thirds of the head, otherwise similar to the europseus in form 

 and habits. It is found from the north of the Caspian sea, Sls 

 far as Egypt inclusively. 



Centenes, Illig. 



The body of the Tenrec is covered with spines like the Hedge- 

 hog. It does not however possess the faculty of rolling itself so 

 completely into a ball: there is no tail; the muzzle is very pointed, 

 and the teeth are very different. There are four or six incisors, and 

 two great canini in each jaw. Behind the canini are one or two 

 small teeth, and four triangular and bristled molars. Three species 

 are found in Madagascar, the first of which has been naturalized in 

 the Isle of France. It is a nocturnal animal, which passes three 

 months of the year in a state of lethargy, although inhabiting the 

 torrid zone. Brugiere even assures us that it is during the greatest 

 heats that they grow torpid. 



Erinaceus ecaiulatus, L.; Buff. XII, Ivi. (The Tenrec.) Co- 

 vered with stiff spines ; only four notched incisors below. It is 

 the largest of the three, and exceeds the hedgehog in size. 



Erinaceus setosus, L.; Buff. XII, Ivii. The spines more 

 flexible and setaceous ; six notched incisors in each jaw. 



Erinaceus semi-spinosus. Covered indiscriminately with 

 spines and setae ; striped with yellow and black ; its six incisors 

 and canini are all slender and hooked ; size hardly that of a 

 Mole.(2) 



(1) Pallas has noted as an interesting' fact, that the Hedgehog eats hundreds of 

 Cantharides without inconvenience, while a single one produces the most horrible 

 agony in the Dog and the Cut. .. " 



(2) lUiff'., Suppl. 1,11, pi. 37, has mistaken it for a young Tenrec. Vdy. ala 

 Chine, II, p. 140, giv;ej a wrong description of the teeth. 



