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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1863. 



Myosotis, we may remark that, while the Forget-me- 

 nots usually turn brown or black, some of the Scor- 

 pion-Grasses retain their colour very satisfactorily. 

 31. sylvatica, in particular, is quite a treat to con- 

 template in one's collection, as its large flowers lose 

 but little of their brilliancy, and the green of the 

 leaves retains a respectable share of its original hue. 

 M. collina, too, and occasionally M. arvensis, present 

 a moderately satisfactory appearance. B. 



HEDGEHOG. 



"TTTHAT is a Hedgehog ? Is there any such 

 * * creature, with instincts and appetites be- 

 fitting its place in creation ? One will tell you, and 

 many a one, that it feeds upon roots and fruit— has 

 been seen carrying home apples and berries upon 

 its spines. The anatomist bids you look at its jaws. 

 It must be insectivorous. The enlightened farmer 

 would designate it his best friend, devouring only 

 insect vermin— slugs, beetles, grubs — in vast quanti- 

 ties. The benighted cowman loves to tell of injured 

 teats that an old hedgehog has been at. The 

 shrewd gamekeeper, of an old hedgehog that eludes 

 him ; he it is carries away his master's pheasants' 

 eggs. In the midst of this conflict, a few obser- 

 vations, spread over some forty years, upon the 

 habits of the creature, may possibly entertain your 

 general reader, and even profit such as live by the 

 culture of the field. I have had them under a 

 variety of circumstances, and ages, from very birth ; 

 and as their instinct seemed little affected thereby, 

 my remarks, for brevity sake, will principally refer 

 to one brood as applicable to all. This, my last and 

 longest kept, consisting of four, chanced to be bom 

 in the dining-room : the mother (quite wild) having 

 been removed there, away from the insults of one 

 to whom she had been proposed as a companion ; 

 and the surprise was great when the hand inserted 

 for the mother felt and drew from her flag-basket 

 a little tawny-white urchin, having about five rows 

 of rather long but soft spines, altogether resembling 

 (as a friend remarked) a tiny larded sweetbread. 

 They showed neither ear nor eye externally, the 

 ears protruding in three, the eyes not opening till 

 thirteen days ; still they obeyed the warnings the 

 mother's low sonorous breathing conveyed to them, 

 either by retreating to her, or rolling up into little 

 balls. So peculiar is this ventriloquistic sound, and 

 beautifully adapted, that doubtless it is taken by 

 their enemies for the moaning of wind through 

 the hedgerows. All, however, were not obedient 

 alike ; odc, which in after-life turned out the genius 

 of the family, preferred to linger in the warm hand ; 

 but his career, poor fellow, ended the most un- 

 happily. Brown spines showed points on the 

 fourth, and they were full spined on the eighth day. 

 The growth is very rapid : in three weeks' time the 



four attained a weight of one pound six ounces 

 and a half. At nine weeks all were attacked — the 

 two males first, and most severely — with a disorder 

 (or distemper) so violent as to cause imminent 

 danger of suffocation, from the accretion of a green- 

 ish discharge; the claws, in which the first symptoms 

 showed, ultimately coming away in a mass, and 

 many of the spines. The parts were mopped with 

 warm milk and water, with a drop or two of laudanum 

 to allay pain. After being nursed through this, 

 they became with me as familiar as kittens ; even 

 showing upon one or two occasions a slight indica- 

 tion to play with a feather or straw. Upon calling 

 one of their names sharply, " Phil ! Phil ! " and 

 starting a beetle unobserved, he would look hurriedly 

 about him, and then hie away in pursuit. But 

 so slow is their fussy pace, that too much law must 

 not be allowed, or Mr. Bob may reach the wall and 

 be safe. This same Phil had somehow taught 

 himself to come and wave a grotesque little paw, 

 when his exquisite nose apprised him of some 

 delicacy on the table above, whether or no the 

 room where they were nursed had any influence. 

 But whilst being stowed in their own, they would 

 use all their little cunning to creep past one's feet ; 

 and now and then one has succeeded in reaching 

 this room, and rolling itself up in the end of the 

 bed- curtain till all was dark, and still has astonished 

 one with the heavy little trot, when I made sure 1 

 had counted them all through the chink. This 

 faculty of packing is quite instinctive. A perfectly 

 wild one having had a newspaper left him to lie 

 upon, wrapped himself up into a parcel that would 

 have done credit to a grocer's assistant. They will 

 carry to their bed a large paper, or rag, without 

 tumbling over the trailing corners, proceeding much 

 as the ant {Formica) would do. It would have been 

 interesting to see what a second generation might 

 have exhibited, but it has since occurred to me that 

 with this view a mistake was made in keeping the 

 two males and two females together. There is a 

 probability that some little families might have 

 come to grief amongst them all. True it is, the next 

 season, so determined were the females to avoid 

 the persevering attentions of the males, that they 

 were becoming lean aud starved rather than en- 

 counter them at their food, and were therefore fed 

 separately for a time. An opportunity was afforded 

 for ascertaining their pace, by one whose habit it was 

 to take a morning run of two hours among the 

 chair-legs surrounding the room. This I measured 

 and timed, and the average result was two miles — 

 one mile per hour. This procedure caused no small 

 astonishment, not to say trepidation, to the cats, 

 who cautiously kept pace on the seats above, timidly 

 putting down a pat occasionally. A Hedgehog will 

 not budge an inch for a cat, but walk straight up to 

 it, whereupon Puss summons her better part of 

 valour. Like some other animals— cats, for that of 



