ORDER III. CARNIVORA. 31) 



small animals, which feed principally upon insects, and are 

 called insectivorous. Many of them pass the winter in a state 

 of lethargy, and during summer they lead a secluded, noctur- 

 nal, or subterranean life. Their limbs are short, and their 

 motions very feeble. Among the most worthy of notice are 

 the hedgehog, the tenrec, the shrew-mouse, and the mole. 



The Hedgehog is remarkable for being covered with short, 

 strong spines instead of hairs, and for the faculty of drawing 

 its head and feet in such a manner under its belly, as to give 

 itself the appearance of a ball covered with sharp bristles. 

 In this way it resists the attacks made upon it, using no other 

 method of defence ; and no violence will induce it to alter its 

 form or position. It is a harmless and inoffensive animal, and 

 suffers injuries of all kinds with great patience and forbear- 

 ance. It is about nine or ten inches in length, inhabits holes 

 and decayed trees, into which it retreats in order to pass the 

 winter. Its skin was used by the ancients for a clothes-brush, 

 and has been sometimes employed for the purpose of dressing 

 hemp. 



The Moles are peculiarly adapted, by the structure of their 

 nose and feet, for burrowing in the earth. This operation 

 they perform with great facility and rapidity. So expert are 

 they, that if put upon the grass where the earth is soft, they 

 force their way into it almost immediately ; and even upon a 

 hard, gravelly road, they can cover themselves in the course 

 of a few minutes. They feed principally upon the earth- 

 worm, and prefer the soil in which it is to be found in greatest 

 abundance for their residence. They construct habitations 

 of a peculiar form, to be hereafter described, in which they 

 rear their young, and lead a social and domestic life. They 

 sometimes increase in number to such ari extent, as to be a 

 serious annoyance to the husbandman. 



3. The animals of the third tribe possess the characteris- 

 tics of this order in the highest degree. They are endowed 

 not only with an appetite for animal food, and a structure 

 adapted for its mastication and digestion, but with strength 

 and courage for seizing and retaining it. They are not all, 

 however, purely carnivorous, nor equally ferocious. Some 

 are slow and indolent in their motions, and clumsy in their 

 forms, passing the winter in cold climates in a state of lethargy, 

 arid being capable of subsisting in a great measure upon vege- 

 table food. Such are the bear, glutton, and badger. There 

 are others, as the weasel, the ermine, the ferret, and the pole- 

 cat, mean in size and appearance, and of a long, lean body. 



