Chap. 56.] HEDGEHOGS. 309 



perceive the approach of the hunter, they draw in the head 

 and feet, and all the lower part of the body, which is covered 

 by a thin and defenceless down only, and then roll themselves 

 up into the form of a ball, so that there is no way of taking 

 hold of .them but by their quills. When they are reduced 

 to a state of desperation, they discharge a corrosive urine, 

 which injures their skin and quills, as they are aware that it 

 is for the sake of them that they are hunted. A skilful hunter, 

 therefore, will only pursue them when they have just discharged 

 their urine. In this case the skin retains its value ; while 

 in the other case, it becomes spoilt and easily torn, the quills 

 rotting and falling off, even though the animal should escape 

 with its life. For this reason it is that it never moistens itself 

 with this poisonous fluid, except when reduced to the last stage 

 of desperation ; for it has a perfect hatred for its own venomous 

 distillation, and so careful is the animal, so determined to wait 

 till the very last moment, that it is generally caught before it 

 has employed this means of defence. 



They force it to unroll itself, by sprinkling warm water up- 

 on it, and then, suspended by one of its hind legs, it is left 

 to die of hunger ; for there is no other mode of destroying it, 

 without doing injury to its skin. This animal is not, as many 

 of us imagine, entirely useless to man. If it were not for the 

 quills which it produces, the soft fleece of the sheep would 

 have been given in vain to mankind ; for it is by means of its . 

 skin, that our woollen cloth is dressed. From the monopoly 

 of this article, great frauds and great profits have resulted j 88 

 there is no subject on which the senate has more frequently 

 passed decrees, and there is not one of the Emperors, who has 

 not received from the provinces complaints respecting it. 89 



88 The teasel, or carding thistle, is now used for this purpose ; as also 

 iron wires, crooked and sharpened at the point. Not a single quill, pro- 

 bably of the hedgehog, is now used in the manufacture of cloth. 



89 Dalechamps suggests that these complaints were probably to the 

 effect that thistles and thorns were employed instead of the quills of the 

 hedgehog ; that the skin of the hedgehog was brought to market in a bad 

 state ; and again, that the rich merchants were in the habit of buying them 

 up, and forestalling the market. Hardouin quotes an edict of the Emperor 

 Zeno against monopolies of hedgehogs and carding materials, if, indeed, 

 that is the meaning of the word " pectinum." 



