THE HEDGEHOG KIND. 



373 



CHAPTER LIV. 



THE HEDGEHOG, OR PRICKLY KIND. 



ANIMALS of the Hedgehog kind require 

 but very little accuracy to distinguish them 

 from all others. That hair which serves 

 the generality of quadrupeds for warmth and 

 ornament, is partly wanting in these ; while 

 its place is supplied by sharp spines or prickles, 

 that' serve for their defence. This general 

 characteristic, therefore, makes a much more 

 obvious distinction than any that can be taken 

 from their teeth or their claws. Nature, by 

 this extraordinary peculiarity, seems to have 

 separated them in a very distinguished man- 

 ner ; so that, instead of classing the hedgehog 

 among the moles, or the porcupine with the 

 hare, as some have done, it is much more na- 

 tural and obvious to place them, and others 

 approaching them, in this strange peculiarity, 

 in a class by themselves ; nor let it be suppos- 

 ed, that while I thus alter their arrangement, 

 and separate them from animals with which 

 they have been formerly combined, that I am 

 destroying any secret affinities that exist in 

 nature. It is natural, indeed, for readers to 

 suppose, when they see two such opposite ani- 

 mals as the hare and the porcupine assembled 

 together in the same group, that there must be 

 some material reason, some secret connexion, 

 for thus joining animals so little resembling 

 each other in appearance. But the reasons 

 for this union were very slight, and merely 

 arose from a similitude in the fore teeth ; no 

 likeness in the internal conformation, no simili- 

 tude in nature, in habitudes, or disposition ; 

 in short, nothing to fasten the link that com- 

 bines them, but the similitude in the teeth : 

 this, therefore, may be easily dispensed with ; 

 and, as was said, it will be most proper to class 

 them according to their most striking simili- 

 tudes. 



The hedgehog, with an appearance the most 

 formidable, is yet one of the most harmless ani- 

 mals in the world : unable or unwilling to 

 offend, all its precautions are only directed to 

 its own security ; and it is armed with a 

 thousand points, to keep off the enemy, but 



not to invade him. While other creatures 

 trust to their force, their cunning, or their 

 swiftness, this animal, destitute of all, has but 

 one expedient for safety ; and from this alone 

 it often finds protection. As soon as it per- 

 ceives itself attacked, it withdraws all its vul- 

 nerable parts, rolls itself into a ball, and pre- 

 sents nothing but its defensive thorns to the 

 enemy ; thus, while it attempts to injure no 

 other quadruped, they are equally incapable of 

 injuring it : like those knights, we have some- 

 where read of, who were armed in such a 

 manner, that they could neither conquer others, 

 nor be themselves overcome. 



This animal is of two kinds ; one with a 

 nose like the snout of a hog; the other more 

 short and blunt, like that of a dog. That with 

 the muzzle of a dog is the most common, be- 

 ing about six inches in length, from the tip of 

 the nose to the insertion of the tail. The tail 

 is little more than an inch long ; and so con- 

 cealed by the spines, as to be scarce visible : 

 the head, back, and sides, are covered with 

 prickles; the nose, breast, and belly, are cover- 

 ed with fine soft hair ; a the legs are short, of a 

 dusky colour, and almost bare; the toes on 

 each foot are five in number, long and sepa- 

 rated ; the prickles are about an inch in length, 

 and very sharp pointed ; their lower part is 

 white, the middle black, and the points white: 

 the eyes are small, and placed high in the head : 

 the ears are round, pretty large, and naked ; 

 the mouth is small, but well furnished with 

 teeth ; these, however, it only uses in chewing 

 its food, but neither in attacking or defending 

 itself against other animals. Its only reliance 

 in cases of danger, is on its spines ; the instant 

 it percr ives an enemy, it puts itself into a pos- 

 ture of defence, and keeps upon its guard until 

 it supposes the danger over. On such occa- 

 sions, it immediately alters its whole appear- 

 from its usual form, somewhat resem- 



ance 



a Praputium propendens. Linnaei Syst. 75. And of 

 the female he might have said, resupina copulatur. 

 3L* 



