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OF URCHINS IN GENERAL. 



URCHINS are animals usually of small size. They 

 feed, for the most part, on roots, worms, and the 

 larva of insects, which they dig up out of the 

 earth, by means of their muzzle or snout. None 

 of the species are carnivorous. They are never 

 guilty of commencing an attack on other animals; 

 nor, generally speaking, have they much cause to 

 fear the result of any attack from them. In their 

 own defence, they do not exert either their teeth 

 or claws. On the first alarm, they roll themselves 

 closely lip into a ball, which presents on all sides a 

 multitude of spines, so sharp and strong that few 

 animals have the power of doing them the slightest 

 injury. They continue in this passive state till 

 their adversary has retired, when they leisurely 

 unfold themselves, and proceed in their usual 

 employments. 



Of the complicated and very curious organiza- 

 tion of the muscles, by which this singular mode 

 of defence takes place, the following is the abridged 

 description of M. Cuvier, professor of anatomy in 

 Paris: 



" It is necessary, (he says,) in the first place, to 

 observe, that these muscles, being attached to the 

 skin, change their situation with it, and that they 



are 



