THE HEDGEHOG OR URCHIN 73 



expected appearance of the animal in times of frost and snow.^ 

 They thus confirm Spallanzani's ItaHan experiment, and in Dum- 

 friesshire Service has encountered individuals perambulating 

 upon an inch of snow on 22nd November and in mild weather on 

 3rd January.^ But, on the other hand, Dr Laver informs me 

 that he is sure that in Essex some individuals sleep right 

 through the winter, and a Manx captive in the possession of 

 Mr P. M. C. Kermode slept from Christmas Eve to 19th April 

 following. It is evident that the relative hiemal activity of the 

 animal should be studied from north to south of the country. 



After a period of gestation ^ which has been variously com- 

 puted at from about four'' to seven weeks, ^ the female produces 

 her young at a date which may be in or about April, or between 

 mid-August and the beginning of October.*^ The number is 

 generally four or five, but varies in exceptional instances between 

 two "^ and eight ^ or nine ^ ; litters of seven have been recorded by 

 Mr Harting (twice) ^° and Mr F. H. Parrott.^^ The later births 

 are the second litters of the season, and are always separated 

 from those of spring by the interval mentioned above. The 

 newly born young are blind, and the future spines are hardly 

 perceptible ; at first these are white, soft, and flexible, but, 

 hardening in the course of a few days, they become first brown, 

 later annulated. The ears, as remarked by Gilbert White, 



12 



1 C. A. Witchell, Journ. ciL, 1896, 98 ; Gordon Dalgliesh, Fieldy 19th November 

 1904, 908 ; and Zoologist, 1906, 170. 



^ Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1901, 79. 



3 The pairing of this animal, either "standing upright because of their spines" 

 (Aristotle, De Generatione Anii?talium, Arthur Piatt's ed., 1910, i., 5, 717", 30), "belly 

 to belly" (Aristotle, Hisioria Animaliwn, D'A. W. Thompson's ed., 1910, v., 2, 540", 3), 

 ■or ventral as in porcupines (Sir Thomas Browne, 311), engaged the curious attention 

 of many ancient and mediseval writers. It has recently been described by R. Collett, 

 who states that the male may follow the female for several hours, after which the pair 

 wander round each other in a small circle till at last the pairing takes place, the 

 female lying on her back. The latter fact was also given by Lilljeborg. 



* Flower and Lydekker ; E, L. Trouessart, Histoire naturelle de la France, 1884, 75. 



° This figure is probably correct, since it was given by Lilljeborg, a very careful 

 -writer. 



" 23rd September for Ireland, 7?^^ Patterson, Irish Naturalist, 1901, 254; 28th 

 September (recently born), Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland, James Lumsden, Proc. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc. (Glasgow), iii., 187, 27th March 1877 ; H. E. Forrest observed half-grown 

 young near Shrewsbury in the last week of November 1910 {in lit.). 



7 Bell ; also Cocks. « Blasius. " Collett. 



10 Vermin of the Farm, 1892, reprint, 34. " Zoologist, 1887, 424. 



^- Letter xxvii. to Thomas Pennant, 22nd February 1770. 



VOL. II. F 



