CHORDATA 



391 



project their quills is another zoological fable. The European 

 porcupine (Fig. 380) is a terrestrial animal. One other member 

 of this group should be mentioned, the coypu of South America, 



FIG. 380. Hystrix cristata, the European porcupine. (From Brehm's Thierleben.) 



which is about the size of a beaver, but has a cylindrical tail. 

 Its brown fur is soft and dense, and is known commercially as 

 nutria. Some fossil Hystricomorpha found in South America 

 were as large as oxen and were the largest known rodents. 



Suborder 4. Lagomorpha 



The Lagomorpha (Gr. Xaj(o<i, hare, and popfyr}, form) are hare- 

 like rodents (Fig- 381), which have one or two very apparent dif- 

 ferences from the other suborders. They have four incisors in the 

 upper jaw, and the 

 testes lie perma- 

 nently in a scrotum. 

 The upper lip is al- 

 ways cleft on the 

 median line. The 

 skin is very thin and 

 covered with a soft, 

 woolly fur, which in 

 many hares wholly 

 or partially whitens 



in winter. The hares F' G - 3 Si - Lepus sylvaticus, the wood hare of the United 

 A UU- U 1 States. (From a photograph provided by the American 



and rabbits belong Museum of Natural History.) 



