Manchester ATcjHoirs, Vol. Ixiii. (1919) No. 2 5 



goeth, making a noise like a cart wheele.* And, if hee have any young 

 ones in his nest, they pull of his load wherewithal he is loaded, eating 

 thereof what they please and laying uppe the residue for the time 

 to come." 



In 1637, Ulysses Aldrovandus (i 522-1 605), of Bologna, one of 

 the most distinguished naturalists of his time, says : — f 



" The method by which the hedgehog detaches apples from the 

 trees and carries them off to its burrow, stuck upon its spines, has 

 been observed by those who study the things of nature ; also that, if 

 one falls off by the way, the animal, growing angry, throws off all the 

 rest and returns again to the tree."l 



Johan Sperling, a German naturalist of much the same period, 



says : — § 



" What is the food of the Hedgehog:, ? — Apples, pears, grapes, and 

 other fruits. He climbs these trees, throws down the apples and pears, 

 rolls himself upon them till they stick on to his spines. After this, he 

 starts off and hastens to the hollows in trees in which he lives. If 

 a single apple falls off, he immediately casts off all and returns to the 

 tree, where he gathers a new supply. "|| 



Here, then, we have the testimony of many more-or-less reliable 

 Mediaeval writers and illustrators to the effect that the Hedgehog 

 carries home fruits of various kinds impaled on its spines. Their 

 testimony is spread over many centuries and many countries, and 

 relates to at least four different kinds of fruits (namely, apples, pears, 

 figs, and grapes). Without doubt, however, most of these writers were 

 mere copyists who adopted blindly the statements of their predecessors. 



IV. — Recent Observations and Opinions. — But evidence on 

 the point does not end here ; for many modern naturalists have 

 expressed their opinions, and some have recorded cases in which 

 Hedgehogs are asserted to have been actually observed in the act of 

 transporting fruit on their spines. 



* This is Topsell's description of the curious squeaky whining grunt to which 

 the creature constantly gives utterance when foraging lor food in the woods and 

 hedges at night. 



t De Quadrupedibus Digitalis, lib. ii. (Bologna, ed. 1637, p. 467). 



% Ratione pomarum, quns ab herinaceis decutiuntur ab arboribus et spinis affixa, 

 ad cavernatn feruntur, observarunt rerum naturalium scrutatores ; si in itinere unum 

 tantum cadat, animal ira ascensum ctetera abjicere, denique ad arborem revertit. 



§ Zoologia Physica Posth., p. 281 (Leipzig, 1661). 



II Quodnam niitrirtientum Eririacei sit ? — Poma, pira, uvgs, & fructus alii. Hinc 



arbores ascendit, poma ac pira decutit, in istis sese volulat, ut spinis hrerant. Post 



ad iter sese accingit & ad cavas arbores, in quibus habitat, properat. Pomum i.num 

 si decidit, mox omnia adjucit, & ad arborem redit, novumque cibum requirit. 



