368 On the Canada Porcupine, 



" The whole upper surface of the body, from the nose to the 

 extremity of the tail, is covered by long and rather coarse hair, 

 intermixed with a dense mass of spines or quills. These are of a 

 cylindrical shape, very sharp at the extremity, and pointed at the 

 roots. The animal is capable of erecting them at pleasure, and 

 they are detached at the slightest touch. They are barbed with 

 numerous small reversed points or prickles, which, when once 

 inserted in the flesh, will, by the mere movement of the limbs, 

 work themselves deeper into the body. There seems to be in 

 certain parts of the body of this species a regular gradation from 

 hair to spines. These spines continue to lengthen on the hinder 

 parts of the head, to increase in size on the shoulders, and are 

 lono-er and more rigid on the buttocks and thighs. In specimens 

 of old animals the whole upper surface of the body is covered by 

 a mass of quills, with their tufts of long hairs, six inches in length, 

 on the forehead, shoulders, and along the sides. 



" Head, rather small for the size of the animal, and very short ; 

 nose, truncated, broad, flattish above, and terminating abruptly; 

 the eyes are lateral and small ; ears, small, rounded, covered by 

 short fur, and concealed by the adjoining long hair ; incisors, large 

 and strong. 



" Legs, very short, and rather stout ; claws, tolerably long, com- 

 pressed, moderately arched and channelled beneath. 



" There are tufts of hair situated between the toes ; palms, naked 

 and nearly oval, hard and tuberculous ; on the fore feet there are 

 four short toes, the second, counting from the inside, longest, the 

 third a little smaller, the first a size less, and the fourth smallest ; 

 on the hind foot there are five toes, with claws corresponding to 

 those on the fore foot. The hairs are so thickly and broadly 

 arranged along the sides of the soles that they give a great appa- 

 rent breadth to the foot, enabling this clumsy animal to walk with 

 greater ease on the snow. It is plantigrade, and, like the bear, 

 presses on the earth throughout the whole length of the soles. 

 Tail, short and thick, covered above with spines, beneath with 

 long rigid hairs ; when walking or climbing it is turned a little 

 upwards. 



" The colour of the incisors, or cutting teeth, is deep orange ; 

 whole upper surface blackish-brown, interspersed with long hairs, 

 manv of them being eight inches in length ; these hairs are four- 

 fifths of their length dark-brown, with the points from one to two 

 inches wide. There are also long white hairs interspersed under 



