HYSTRICID.*. 



.entirely hide the scales; fur soft, and without 

 of soft hairs; general ho* brown-yellow; under part* 

 >ite. It iahabiU Bahia and BraiiL 



Jt OJSsrW*, th. Cavo-Echimys ; AWev anlricolo> Lund.; f. 

 sisX Lund. Body stout; th* muzzle thick; ear* short; Uil 

 luof. and well-clothed with hair* ; upper part* of the animal gray- 

 brow*. ilh sn admixture of rusty \ellow: under part* whiU; the 

 hairs at the fur harsh and adprossed. It inhabiU the interior of Braxil. 



JnloreaW Fonr toe* to th. bind feet ; Uil short ; incisor teeth 

 wry broad, thoes of th* upper jaw with on* internal fold and two 

 external fold* of enamel ; skull abort and broad, with tbe occipital 

 crest much elevated, a vertical pUte on the upper part of the anterior 

 rout of the sygnroatir arch, forming the outer boundary of a groove 

 for Ike infraorbital opening. 



A. .Srmdmamu, the Aulacodus, or Ground-Rat Body covered 

 with stiff snd bristly hair* on all part* ; general hue brown, pencilled 

 with black and yellow, or sometime* with dirty yellowish-white ; 

 Uil duaky above, whitish brlow. It inhabits Sierra-Leone, the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Gambia, and South Africa. 



- Bob-family Dtuyproetina, Animal* with semi-rooted molars 

 auaugsd in parallel aerie*, the cranium elongated ; nasal bone 

 destitute of a drecending process on the lower edge ; a tolerably 

 distinct jpostorbital process formed chiefly by the frontal bone, but 

 in part likewise by the squamoaal ; scapula with the emargination in 

 ta* fore part* of the spine, but moderately deep ; clavicles wanting; 

 fret formed for running, with the toe* 5 3 or 5 5, terminated by sub- 

 solid nail* with one but little arched ; Uil rudimentary ; body 

 with hair only ; no admixture of spines. Habitat, South 



America ranging from the northernmost parti southward to Para- 

 guay and Bolivia ; occurs likewise in come of the West India Islands. 

 Th* specie* of this sub-family will be found under AGOUTI and 



Sub-family //vsfrtcina. This sub-family embraces the animals fami- 

 liarly known as Porcupine*. 



Tbe genus Hyttnx of Linna-us embraces those Rodents whose 

 covering cioosiots, for th* most part, of a kind of offensive and defen- 

 sive armour, in tbe shape of spine* or quills, instead of hairs. 



Cnrier, who place* the Porcupines between the genus Myopolamus 

 and the gruu* Lrjxa, observes that they are to be recognised at the 

 first glance by the stiff and (Minted spines with which they are armed, 

 after th* manner of the Hedgehogs among the Carnassiers. Their 

 molars are, be proceeds to state, four in number, with a flattened 

 crown, varioualy modified by layers of enamel, which leave deep inter- 

 val* ; their tongue i* rough with spiny Males ; their clavicles are too 

 small to be applied to the sternum and omoplate, and are only sus- 

 pended by liganvnts. Many of them live in burrows, and have much 

 the habit* of Rabbit*. Their grunting voice, joined to their large and 

 truncated muzxle, has, he says in conclusion, caused them to be com- 

 pared to the Hog, whence their French name Pore-Epic, and, he might 

 na-v* added, their Knglixh appellstion. 



He divides the group into 1, the Porcupines properly so called 

 (Owtrix cnrfa/a. Linn.) ; 2, A ll.rrura, Cuv. (Uyth-irfaKtculata, Linn.) ; 

 S, Les Unotv, (Eretisons, F. Cuv. ; llyttrii d'onala, Linn.) ; and 4, Les 

 Comdou* (8jn.tb.res, F. Cuv. ; ByUrit freJttniilti, Linn. ; and 7/y.crix 

 eav*aWse\ Liiht). 



Dr. J. E. Gray make* tbe Htptririjrr tbe second family of tbe order 

 M*"", ih the following character : Cutting teeth two in each jaw, 

 lower truncated ; grinders 4 4 in each jaw, rooted, compound ; 

 tongu* and body covered with spine* ; clavicles none. 



t Tail short 

 1. //yWn'-r. 2. Amnlliia. 



tt Tsil elongated. 



I. ErfUttm. 4. Fj.yyitna. 5. SimfAunK, F. Cuv. (Fyrta-l/irm I). 



This fsmily is placed by Dr. J. E. Gray between tie Mv,nd<r 

 and Itfonda. 



Mr. WatrrhooM, in his Ubulsr view of the distribution of tbe 

 4**fmA*>. laid bafore tb* Zoological Society of London, in November, 



>. dbni th. sub-fsmily Hy,iricia conniH of the 7/ysfncwte, the 



miHu, UM Ckmckitlida. and the Canirfir. To" Europe' and 

 h Asia b* gi.r* on* p.cir* of HyUruida (Hyttrix) ; to North 

 nea on* (/VrfAium); to Africa one (llytli-ix) ; to India and the 

 Urwl. two. _ namely, one J/yttrir and one Athtnra; to South 

 e W.rt In.lisu Inlands h* gives five, namely, three of 

 two of Fvntrfh'ril. 



In bis 'KsturaJ HiMory of th* Mammalia' (1848), Mr. Waterhouse 

 tbe arrangniMOt which ws have followed in this article. 



Linn. This genus is ditingui>bed by the head being more 

 h* cunvn, and by tbe development of the bone* of the nose, 

 which re err much extended; temporal and orbital fosne very 

 I ; parieUl bone* depmaed, oodpiUl and sagittal crest* projecting 

 . tail short, not prehensile; feet plantigrade, the anterior 

 I*, the posterior penUdsctyle, armed with Urge nails. 

 Cuvler gives to the Porcuniii** It/nMrlj- .n<l *h *^.,,n,;,.\ 



Porcu >io (^*" 



i Acanthionc) 



D- famtfe j 



- JO. 





H^*, i 



I H ( /" 



! .' ' 



Teeth of ITytlrix. F. Curler. 



ff. crittata, the Italian or African Porcupine, or Common Porcu- 

 pine. When full grown about two feet in length ; longest spine* 

 exceeding a foot. General colour grizzled dusky-black, resulting from 

 an intermixture of various abatles of white, brown, and blavk. I |,|-,T 

 part of the head and neck furnished with a crest of long lighter- 

 coloured hnirs capable of being raised or depressed at pleasure. 

 Hair on the muzzle and limbs very short, almost black on the limbs ; 

 that of the neck and under part* brownish, and of considerable length. 

 On the fora part and sides of the neck a whitish band ; all the remain- 

 ing parts of the back and tides, including the rump and upper part* 

 of the binder legs, armed with spines, which are longest cm tin- centre 

 uf the back. The spines almost of the thickness of a goose-quill in the 

 middle, supported at the base by a slender pedicle, and termiimting 

 in very sharp point*, striated longitudinally, and ringed alternately 

 with black and white ; the rings an inch or more broad. Their usual 

 position is lying nearly flat upon the body with the points directed 

 backwards; when the animal is excited they are raised by means 

 of the subcuUneous muscles almost at right angles with the body, 

 and then present a very formidable appearance. They are not capable 

 of being deUched by the animal. Tbe tail-quills are, as it were, cut 

 off in the middle, and consequently open at the ends, and produce a 

 loud rustling noise when the animal agitates its tail (Bennett) 



This i* the "T<rrpi{ of Aristotle and the Greeks ; and, according to 

 Agricola, the 'AK<u>6oxcupot of the latter ; llyttrif of the Romans ; 

 lattice of the Italian"; Porcepic of the French; SUchelscbwein, 

 Doruschwein, snd Porcopick, of the Germans ; and Porcupine of the 

 liriti.h. 



The Porcupine is a nocturnal animal, nleepinp in its burrow during 

 the day, and coming forth at nightfall to seek its food, confuting 

 princi|>ally of roots, fruiU, and tender leave*. Thunberg sUte* that 

 its usual food near the Cape, where it is called Yzer-Varken, i* the 

 root of that beautiful plant the Cnlla jEthiopica, which grew even in 

 the ditches about tbe gardens ; but he adds that it will frequently 

 deign to put up with cabbages and other vegeUbles, and sometimes 

 commit* great depredations in those gardens. The story of its power 

 of shooting iU quills to a distance at its enemy, is merely glanced at 

 by Aristotle (' Hist. Anini.,' ix. 39), but dwelt upon by Plitiy with 

 bis usual love for the marvellous.. ('Hut Nat,' viii. 35.) -ttliaii, 



. , 



Uppian, and Claudian have repeated this talc with exaggerations. In 

 suddenly raising his vpiny armour, a loose quill may be detached by 

 the Porcupine ; but the power of ejaculation to a distance does not 

 exist There are usually several openings to the Poicupine's burrow, 

 and it hyberuate*. but only for a short time. Mr. Bennett quotes 

 Thunberg, not without observation on his credulity, for tbe use which 

 he was told the Ceylonese Porcupine makes of the tail-quills. Thun- 

 berg was informed that it bad " a very curious method of fetching 

 water for iU young, namely, the quills in the Uil are said to be 

 hollow, and to have a hole at the extremity ; and that the animal can 

 bend them in such a manner as that they can be filled with water, 

 which afterwards is discharged in the neat among the young." 



