INSECT-EATERS 



75 



coloured coat and the prickly armour which covers the upper portion of its 

 body. On the approach of danger, it rapidly rolls itself together into a 

 ball ; the head, legs and under side of the body, which are without spines, 

 are enclosed within the spiny skin of the back, and the animal now 

 presents a thousand small spears towards its would-be assailants. This 

 peculiar action is due to the presence of a muscular ring, which when 

 the animal is in its extended state lies flat over the back, but in the act 

 of " rolling up " is pushed downwards, as it were, " below the equator " of 

 the animal's body. The prickly skin of the back, being connected with 

 this muscular coat, shares in its displacement, and in this way completely 

 covers over the unprotected parts 

 of the body. By means of this 

 action the spines, which are really 

 nothing but specially strong hairs, 

 are at the same time erected. These 

 spines now no longer all lie in one 

 particular direction, but point pro- 

 miscuously in all directions, so that 

 they can no longer be depressed by 

 an attacking party. Dogs and foxes 

 only come off from the attack with 

 a bleeding snout, but the horned 

 owl is not so easily terrified. With 

 its long, sharp claws and powerful 

 beak, it actually penetrates, with- 

 out fear of injury, the armour of 

 spines, and kills the hedgehog. The spiny armour is a further protection 

 to the animal, when it happens to fall from a high wall or cliff, a danger 

 to which a creature of its awkward gait is not infrequently exposed. In 

 such an emergency, it quickly rolls itself up, and the spines break the 

 force of its fall by their elasticity. Lastly, the prickly coat serves as a 

 comfortable means of transport, for by rolling about on the ground the 

 animal impales on its spines such objects as leaves, moss, etc., and in 

 this manner conveys them to its winter home. Here, rolled up (as 

 a means of preservation of body-heat ; see badger), and well fed (see 

 bat), it sleeps through the cold, barren season of the year. 



HEDGEHOG WITH THE SKIN REMOVED. 

 (One -fifth natural size. ) 



Ms., Muscular ring. 



ORDER VII. : RODENTS (RODENTIA). 



Dentition : A pair of rootless incisors in each jaw, the anterior surfaces of 

 which only are covered with enamel ; in the hare family alone there is a 

 second smaller pair of incisors in the upper jaw. The molars have 



