MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 249 



are born about the first of May and are very large, being act- 

 ually larger and relatively more than thirty times larger than 

 the young of the black bear at birth. Merriam says : * ' May 

 1st, 1882, I shot at Big Moose Lake, a female porcupine which 

 contained a foetus that would certainly have been born within 

 two or three days. It weighed one and one-quarter pounds 

 avoirdupois (567 grammes), and measured in total length eleven 

 and one fourth inches (285 mm.), the head and body measuring 

 about seven and three-fourths inches (just 195 mm.). It was 

 densely covered with long black hair, and the quills on its 

 back measured over half an inch (13 mm.) in length. The dis- 

 coid placenta measured two and one-quarter inches (57 mm.) 

 in diameter." 



The first mention of the porcupine which I have found in 

 works treating of animals from Minnesota is the following 

 from Carver's Travels (p. 423) which, while rather more ac- 

 curate than most of his descriptions, contains several errors: 



"The body is covered with hair of a dark brown, about four 

 inches long, a great part of which are of the thickness of a 

 straw and are termed quills. These are white with black 

 points, hollow and very strong, especially those of the back. 

 The quills serve this creature for offensive and defensive wea- 

 pons, which he darts out at his enemies and if they pierce the 

 flesh in the least degree, they will sink quite into it, and are 

 not to be extracted without incision. The Indians use them 

 for boring their ears and noses to insert their pendants, and 

 also by way of ornament to their stockings, hair, etc., besides 

 which they greatly esteem their flesh. " 



Carver also enumerates the "hedgehog", but does not de- 

 scribe or again mention it. What may be meant I am at a loss 

 to conjecture. 



The following measurements indicate the size of a full-grown 

 male: Nose to anus, 2ft.; girth, 2.4; tail, 11 in. ; hind foot, 

 4.3; longest claw of hind foot, 1.1; claw of pollex, 0.7; longest 

 claw of fore foot, 1.1; tibia, 6; fore leg, 5; upper incisor, 0.9; 

 lower incisor, 1.2; nose to eye, 1.9; nose to ear, 3.7; width of 

 muzzle over 2; hight of muzzle from end of upper incisor, 2.2; 

 eye, 0.5. 



The general color is vandyke brown, the quills being yellow- 

 ish white with brown points. The long hairs, white with dark 

 bands. The outer part of the fur is lighter brown. There is 

 a light stripe on either side the tail, but below it is nearly black 

 -16 



