THE PORCUPINE. 267 



to be cut short at the end. All these quills, of whatever kind, 

 incline backwards, like the bristles of a hog ; but when the 

 animal is irritated, they rise, and stand upright, as bristles 

 are seen to do. 



Such is the formation of this quadruped, in those parts in 

 which it differs from most others ; as to the rest of its figure, 

 the muzzle bears some resemblance to that of a hare, but. 

 black ; the legs are very short, and the feet have five toes, 

 both before and behind ; and these, as well as the belly, the 

 head, and all other parts of 'the body, are covered with a sort 

 of short hair, like prickles, there being no part, except the 

 ears and the sole of the foot, that is free from them : the ears 

 are thinly covered with very fine hair, and are in shape like 

 those of mankind ; the eyes are small, like those of a hog. 

 being only one-third of an inch from one corner to the other. 

 After the skin is taken off, there appears a kind of paps on 

 those parts of the body from whence the large quills proceed ; 

 these are about the size of a small pea, each answering to as 

 many holes which appear on the outward surface of the skin, 

 and which are about half an inch deep, like as many hollow 

 pipes, wherein the quills are fixed, as in so many sheaths. 



This animal seems to partake very much of the nature of 

 the Hedgehog ; having this formidable apparatus of arms 

 rather to defend itself, than annoy the enemy. There have 

 been, indeed, many naturalists who supposed tliat it was 

 capable of discharging them at its foes, and killing at a great 

 distance off. But this opinion has been entirely discredited 

 of late ; and it is now universally believed that its quills re- 

 main firmly fixed in the skin, and are then only shed when 

 the animal moults them, as birds do their feathers. It is true, 

 we are told by Ellis, that a wolf at Hudson's Bay was found 

 dead, with the quills of a Porcupine fixed within its mouth : 

 which might have very well happened, from the voraciousness 

 of the former, and not the resentment of the latter. That 

 rapacious creature, in the rage of appetite, might have at- 

 tempted to devour the Porcupine, quills and all, and very 

 probably paid the forfeit by its life. However this be, of all 



