Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixiii. ( 1 9 1 9) No. 2 



II. — The Ancient Legend as to the Hedgehog carrying 

 Fruits upon its Spines. 



By Miller Christy, F.L.S. 



(Communicated by T. A. Coward, F.E.S., F.Z.S.) 



{Read and received for publication nth March igig.) 



I. — Introduction. — Everyone is familiar with the very ancient 

 legend that the Common WitA<g€nog( Eritiaceiis eiiropaus) is accustomed 

 to roll himself upon fallen apples, figs, grapes, and the like, and to run 

 off home with them sticking on his prickly spines. This tradition has 

 survived for at least two thousand years and is still current. It seems 

 worth while, therefore, to enquire briefly as to the evidence (if any) in 

 favour of its being based on fact ; for there seems, a priori., little or no 

 reason to doubt its possibility, at least. In any case, a recent occurrence 

 led me to devote some time to an investigation, and the following 

 remarks are designed to elicit information sufficient to prove whether the 

 legend is really founded on fact or not. 



At the very outset, one should bear in mind that the question is one 

 which must be, of necessity, very difficult to settle by observation ; for 

 the Hedgehog is an almost-whoUy crepuscular or nocturnal animal, 

 seldom coming abroad till it is at least dusk, when effective observation 

 on such a point is not easy. Thus, even if the carrying of objects in 

 this way were a common habit of the animal, that habit would almost 

 certainly be witnessed very seldom by man, and still more seldom by 

 a trained and reliable observer. 



II. — Statements of the Old Classical Writers. — The earliest 

 writer to give the story currency was (so far as I can learn) Pliny, who 

 wrote about the year 75 a.d. He says : — * 



" Hedgehogs lay up food for the winter. Rolling themselves on 

 apples as they lie on the ground, the^ pierce one with their quills and 

 then take up another in the mouth, and so carry them into the hollows 

 of trees."! 



* Nat, Hist., lib. viii., cap. 37 (English transl. by Bostock and Riley, ii., p. 308 : 

 Bohn, 1855). Several writers attribute to Aristotle an earlier statement to the same 

 effect ; but I can find nothing of the kind in his writings. 



_t Praeparant hiemi et herinacei cibos : ac volutati supra jacentia pomaaffixa spinis, 

 unum non amplius tenentes ore, portant in cavas arVjores. 



