PORCUPINE. — Hystriz Cristata. 
distance from its haven of refuge, and can present such an array of threatening spikes, 
that it is quite safe from any enemy excepting man. When, however, the animal is at 
peace it is capable of depressing the bristling spears, and can squeeze itself through an 
opening which would appear at first sight to be hardly large enough to permit the passage 
of an animal of only half its size. 
The total length of the common Porcupine is about three feet six inches, the tail being 
about six inches long. Its gait is plantigrade, slow, and clumsy, and as it walks, its long 
quills shake and rattle in a very curious manner. Its muzzle is thick and heavy, and its 
eyes small and pig-hke. 
TUFTED-TAILED PORCUPINE. -—Atheriira Africana. 
The TUFTED-TAILED PoRCUPINE is even a more singular animal than that which has 
just been deseribed. 
