52 ERINACEID^— ERINACEUS 



The spines are annulated with an alternation of dark brown or 

 nearly black and white bands, usually three in number, of which the 

 central is dark, leaving the two ends of the spine light. A small dark 

 tip may or may not be present. 



The haired surfaces vary in colour from dirty brown to dirty 

 white, without discernible pattern. The variation is due to the pro- 

 portions of hairs of these two colours. The majority of individuals 

 are altogether brown, but in others the whitish hairs are numerous. 

 Two small and very light skins in the British Museum were obtained 

 by Ogilvie-Grant in Elgin, Scotland. In these the under side and nose 

 are nearly white, with the exception of a dark, not very well defined 

 breast patch and traces of a mid-ventral darkening. 



The young, of which Gilbert White (Letter xxvii. to Pennant) 

 noted that they have the eyes closed at birth, the spines white, soft, 

 and flexible, and little hanging ears, are at first quite helpless. 

 Patterson {Irish Naturalist, 1901, 254) describes an Irish litter, of which 

 the individuals weighed 75 oz. (nearly 21 grms.) and measured 2-5 inches 

 (63-5 mm.) in total length. The ears hung down slightly, and the 

 snouts were short, broad, and unlike those of the adults. The soft, 

 white, very small spines lay close down to the back. There were sharp 

 and well-developed claws on all four feet, but no trace of hair on any 

 part of the body. A deep, narrow groove ran down the centre of the 

 back from head to tail. The colour was grey-blue above, fleshy beneath, 

 the head being fleshy and the nose tipped with grey. 



I find no trace of moult or seasonal variation, and it is not known 

 whether the spines, which are, physiologically, modified hairs,^ are under 

 normal circumstances shed or renewed. Old spines lose the distinct 

 pattern of their grooving, and their roots, which are quite deep when 

 young, approach the surface (Carlier), when they could easily be thrown 

 off and replaced by new ones ; and this suggestion is supported by the 

 fact that Cocks finds stray shed spines in his cages. An instance is on 

 record where a hedgehog confined in a garden shed its spines in mid- 

 winter (Ellen Newman, Field, 24th March 1906, 442). It was sent to 

 the editor of the Field {Joiirn. cit., 31st March 1906, 519), and eventually 

 to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. As an 

 abnormality, the spines may be absent and replaced by hairs (see 

 Cozens, Journ. cit., 17th March 1906, 433 ; Fritsch, Natural Science, xiii., 

 156, plate ii., 1898). 



In connection with the peculiarly helpless nature of the animal, 

 especially during hibernation, Carlier's remarks on the skin are of great 

 interest. On the upper surface it is very thick and provided with dense 



' Compare : "One must regard as a kind of hair such prickly hairs as hedgehogs 

 and porcupines carry "—Aristotle, Historia Aminalumt, &d. Thompson, 1910, I. 6, 

 490(5, 28. 



