THE CANADIAN PORCUPINE. 



The class Mammalia includes many odd-looking 

 creatures, unconscious humourists. The staring eyes 

 of lemurs (especially loris lemurs) seem to indicate a 

 mental attitude of perpetual surprise ; the melancholy 

 faces of hartebeest antelopes appear to reprove all 

 skittishness and vivacity ; the weird anteater, 

 swaying its preposterous snipe-head to and fro, 

 seems more consonant with the adventures of Alice 

 in Wonderland than the world of real life. The 

 rodents perhaps afford relatively few forms of 

 amusing appearance ; but amongst these examples 

 may be found in the pert little prairie "dog" 

 and the solemn, clumsy tree-porcupine of Canada. 



The Canadian porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus) is a 

 comical-looking beast, whose general untidy ap- 

 pearance suggests that he has turned out of bed in a 

 hurry. The total length is about 29 inches (head 

 and body) plus 8*/ inches of tail. The head 

 is small and short, with a broad flattish nose ; 

 the ears and eyes are small; the incisor teeth 

 are large. The clumsy body is thick, broad, 

 and cylindrical, with a strongly-arched back ; the 

 upper surface is covered with a thick coat of long 

 coarse hair, mixed with sharp minutely-barbed spikes. 

 The legs are stumpy; the toes have tufts of hair 

 between them ; the tail is short, thick, and spiny, 



