136 MAMMALIA. 



Hystrix insidiosa, Lichtenst. ; the Couii/ of Azzara; Pr. Max. 

 Brazil. America possesses one smaller, of which the spines are 

 partly red or yellow, and hidden during a part of the year under its 

 long greyish-brown hair. 



Lepus, Lin. 



Hares have a very distinctive character in their superior incisors, 

 which are double, that is, each of them has a smaller one behind it.* 

 Their molars, five every where, are individually formed of two vertical 

 lamina soldered together, and in the upper jaw there is a sixth, simple 

 and very small. They have five toes before and four behind ; an enormous 

 cfficum, five or six times the size of the stomach, furnished internally 

 with a spiral fillet, which traverses its length. The inside of their mouth 

 and the under part of the feet are lined with hairs like the rest of the 

 body. 



Lepus, Citv. 



Or the true Hares, have long ears ; a short tail ; the hind feet much 

 longer than the fore ones; imperfect clavicles, and the infra-orbitary 

 spaces in the skeleton reticulated. The species are numerous, and so 

 like each other that it is difficult to characterize them. 



L. timidus, L. ; Buff. VII, xxxviii. (The Common Hare). Of 

 a yellowish grey; the ears one-tenth longer than the head; ash 

 coloured behind; black at the tips; tail the length of the thigh, 

 white, with a black line above. 



Every one knows this animal, whose black flesh is agreeable food, 

 and whose fur is useful. It lives solitarily, never burrows, sleeps 

 on the open ground, when hunted describes large circles in the fields, 

 and has never yet been domesticated. 



however, seems to be of little service to it, since it is heavy and ungraceful in its 

 movements. Besides, the tail has this great peculiarity, which is found in no other 

 animal, that the prehensile surface is above, instead of being as it uniformly isin all 

 other animals with a prehensile tail; so that, when employed by the Coendou, it will 

 be seen to curve in a direction exactly the reverse of that which takes place in the 

 tails of the Simla. But the whole of its structure indicates its destiny to live in 

 the woods and on trees; to select its permanent residence on the tops of trees, 

 where it brings forth its young, because immediate nourishment is best attained in 

 such a position. The spines, which almost wholly compose the external coat of the 

 Coendou, adliere to the skin by a very narrow pedicle ; they are therefore verj' easily 

 detached from the body. They are generally of a yellowish white colour at the root, 

 black in the middle, and at the extremity white. The length of the body of the 

 Coendou is about two feet, of the head four inches, of the tail a foot and three 

 inches, and the height of the middle of the body twelve inches. The movements of 

 the creature are slow, and it is like the Lemurs in taking exercise in the night only. 

 It raises itself, as the Kanguroo does, on its hind feet, and with the fore feet grasps 

 and carries food to its mouth. The species of Porcupines are numerous — they are 

 found in Italy and Spain, having been originally brought to these kingdoms, as it is 

 said, from Africa; they are common on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, in 

 Guinea, and at the Cape of Good Hope; also in Asia Minor, South and North 

 America. A Crested Porcupine may be seen in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's 

 Park, which is a native of Northern Africa, and had been naturalized in Italy. When 

 irritated, the Porcupine erects the spines on its body, and rattles those on its tail. — 

 Eng. Ed. 



• There is even a period, when they are shedding their teeth, during which they 

 appear to have three incisors, one behind the other, six in all. 



