Porcupine oil 



avoirdupois (567grm.),and measured in total length 1 1|: inches 

 (285 mm.), the head and body measuring about yf inches 

 (just 195 mm.). It was densely covered with long, black hair, 

 and the quills on its back measured a little over half an inch 

 (13 mm.) in length. The discoid placenta measured 2^ 

 inches (57 mm.) in diameter."'- 



Concerning the further development of the young, I have 

 no information beyond the fact that, early in August, I found 

 young Porcupines half-grown in the Adirondacks, and already 

 leading independent lives. What time they begin to leave the 

 nest, whether they follow their mother and are cared for by 

 her, and when fully grown, have not yet been recorded. 



On the ground the Porcupine's best speed is slow, but it speed 

 is fast compared with its movements in the branches. Here it 

 goes about like a sloth, when it does move, often spending 

 days in a single tree. In the water it floats because of its 

 quills; each one is a little barrel of air to hold it up, and it 

 manages to paddle in the desired direction to considerable 

 distance. A half-grown specimen that I was photograph- 

 ing took to the water to get rid of me, and swam with 

 much splashing and little speed to the other shore, some 50 

 yards away. 



'The stupidest thine in the woods' is the descriptive ver- men- 

 diet applied to the Porcupine by all who know it at home. 

 It will waddle into almost any kind of danger, and eat almost 

 any kind of food with utter oblivion of consequences. 



At Ingolf, Ont., on September 16, 1904, in the woods near 

 the railway I found a dynamite box and a stick of dynamite, 

 one-third eaten by a Porcupine. There were no 'Porky' re- 

 mains near, so evidently he had not chewed hard enough. 



You may drive the creature out of your camp with fire and 

 sword, but that will not prevent its coming back, if able to 

 crawl, within half an hour, to blunder into the same mischief 

 as brought down vengeance before. 

 '= Ibid. 



