PORCHESTER 



626O 



PORCUPINE GRASS 



Porch. Examples of the porch in principal styles of architecture. 1. Culver Homestead, New York, U.S.A., Colonial 

 style. 2. Parish church, Cley-next-t he-Sea, Norfolk, Late Perpendicular Gothic. 3. Old School House, Weobley, Here- 

 fordshire, English half-timber. 4. Church of S. Mary-le-Strand, London, Classic, designed by Gibbs. 5. Woolwich 

 Town Hall, modern Classic. 6. Cranbourne Manor House, Dorset, English Renaissance. See previous page 



Specially drawn for Harmsworlh'l Universal Encyclopedia by Harold Oakley 



Porchester OB PORTCHESTER. inches in length, and has black hair extract. The Canadian 



Village of Hampshire, England. It 

 stands on Portsmouth Harbour, 

 7 m. from Portsmouth, with a 

 station on the L. & S.W. Ely. Its 

 interest is mainly historical. An 

 important Roman station, and 

 later a prosperous seaport, it was 

 one of the chief stations of the navy 

 until the receding of the sea made 

 it useless as a port. Of the Norman 

 castle built in the 12th century, 

 within the walls of the old Roman 

 fortress, there are remains, includ- 

 ing the keep. S. Mary's Church, 

 also of the 12th century, has been 

 largely restored. 



Porcupine (Fr. pore, pig ; 

 epine, prickle). Rodent mammals 

 of the family Hystricidae, distin- 

 guished by the possession of a 

 defensive armour of hollow quills 

 and spines. They are distributed 

 over large areas of S. Europe, S. 

 Asia, Africa, and America. The 

 common porcupine (Hystrix cria- 

 tata), found in both Europe and 

 Africa, is a bulky animal about 27 



with a white crest on the head and 

 band on the neck. The quills are 

 ringed with black and white, and 

 are of great length. The shorter 

 open quills on the tail seem to 

 serve the purpose of rattles to 

 warn any animal who proposes to 

 molest the porcupine. These ani- 

 mals generally occur in hilly dis- 

 tricts, and spend the day in bur- 

 rows or in clefts in the rocks, feed- 

 ing at night upon roots and vege- 

 tables, and often doing great 

 damage in gardens. When at- 

 tacked, they rush backward at 

 their foe, and can inflict very 

 severe wounds with their quills. 



The porcupines of America are 

 very different in appearance, 

 having short quills and long tails, 

 which in the tree porcupines of S. 

 America are prehensile. As the 

 quills are barbed at the tips and are 

 loosely attached to the skin, they 

 make serious wounds by working 

 their way into the flesh of the 

 animal attacked, and are difficult to 



species 



(Erethizon dorsatus) makes very 

 effective use of its thickly quilled 

 tail as a weapon. These porcupines 

 climb well and spend much of their 

 time in the trees, wherp they strip 

 off the foliage in addition to eat- 

 ing the bark. They make their 

 home in hollow 

 trees and in 

 rock crevices. 

 Porcupine 

 Grass (Spini- 

 fex). Small 

 genus of grass- 

 es of the tribe 

 Panicaceae, 

 three species 

 natives of 

 Australia, and 

 one native of 

 tropical Asia. 

 The leaves are 

 in the form of 

 spines, which 

 inflict terrible 

 ..sufferings on 

 man or beast 



Porcupine Grass. 



Spiny leaves and 



flower 



