452 THE TANREC. 
touching the table on which it is placed, or walking with a heavy step across the room. One 
experimenter, who thought that intense cold was the cause of the torpidity, surrounded a 
hibernating Hedgehog with a freezing mixture, in the hope of plunging the animal into a 
more profound sleep. The result, however, was entirely different from his expectation, 
for the excess of cold first awoke the sleeping animal and afterwards froze it to death. 
If the sleeping Hedgehog be touched, or otherwise disturbed, it rouses itself from its 
lethargy, walks about a little, takes some food, if there should be any at hand, and soon 
returns to its somnolent condition. 
It is a very curious fact that if a hibernating animal be suddenly decapitated, before it 
has time to awake from its sleep, the action of the heart continues to last for a consider- 
able time, as if it were endowed with a kind of independent life. In one experiment, 
not only was the brain removed, but the entire spinal cord removed; yet the heart 
continued to pulsate for two hours, and for more than twelve hours would contract if 
touched with the point of a penknife. The animal on which this experiment was made 
had been continually torpid for rather more than six days. 
As might be gathered from the result of this wonderful experiment, the respiration of 
hibernating animals is extremely slight, so slight, indeed, as to be almost imperceptible. 
Long and delicate rods have been so fixed to the slumbering animal that the smallest 
movement was apparent, and yet they never moved perceptibly unless the animal were 
roused by a touch or the sudden shock of an incautious footstep. It is a curious fact that 
whenever the hibernating Hedgehog is thus roused it utters a deep sonorous respiration, 
which is a test of its being truly hibernating. Should it be only in the ordinary sleep, 
the creature only stirs uneasily, and silently coils itself more firmly than before. 
The sight of the Hedgehog does not appear to be so excellent as its powers of scent, 
which are admirably developed, as may be seen by opening the side of a Hedgehog’s face. 
One of these animals has been seen to chase a partridge across a road, following her 
through the hedge with perfect precision; and another was observed to discover the 
presence of mankind by means of its powers of scent, as it was in a position from whence 
it could not see its fancied enemies. The Hedgehog had already passed the observers, 
who remained perfectly quiet in order to watch its proceedings, but after it had run for a 
few paces, it suddenly stopped, seemed suspicious of some danger, stretched its nose in 
the air, and stood on its guard. Ina few moments it seemed to have set itself at ease, 
and resumed its course. The spectators then slightly shifted their position, so as to bring 
the animal again within the range of their “wind,” when the creature repeated the same 
process, and did not appear entirely at its ease for some little time. 
ALTHOUGH unable to contract itself into a ball, after the manner of the true Hedgehogs, 
the TANREC, or MADAGASCAR HEDGEHOG, as it-is sometimes called, is closely allied to 
these animals, and in many respects bears some resemblance to them. 
In size, this animal is about the equal of the European Hedgehog, but is rather more 
elongated in its form, and furnished with longer legs, so that when it walks it does not 
carry its abdomen so close to the ground, as is the case with the preceding animal. The 
muzzle of the Tanrec, or Tenrec, as the name is sometimes written, is extremely elongated, 
rather sharply pointed, and brown in colour; the ears are small and rounded, and the tail 
is absent, a peculiarity which has earned for the animal its specific title of ecaudatus, or 
tail-less. The generic name, Cent¢étes, or more correctly, Kentétes, is of Greek origin, and 
signifies “thorny,” in allusion to the short and thorn-like spines with which the body is 
covered. 
The colour of the Tanrec is rather variable at different times, on account of the 
variegated tints which bedeck the array of quills that adorn and defend its back. These 
quills ave black towards their tips, and yellowish towards their bases, so that either tint 
predominates, according to the arrangement of the quills. In length they are inferior to 
those of the Hedgehog, the largest not exceeding an inch. The throat, abdomen, and 
inside faces of the limbs are covered with rather coarse yellowish hairs, and the sides and 
flanks are decorated with long silken hairs of the same colour as the spines. 
Like the Hedgehog, the Tanree is a hibernating animal, sleeping for at least three 
