SHREWS. FAMILY ER1NACEAD.E, OR HEDGEHOGS. 199 



they dive with great facility. The feet and tail are so formed 

 as to strike the water with force ; the fur has the power of re- 

 pelling water (or rather, it has a strong adhesion for air, which 

 prevents water from ever coming into complete contact with it, 

 MEGHAN. PHILOS. 34), so that it is never wetted ; and the 

 orifices of the ears can be closed, so as to prevent the entrance 

 of water. The Desmans, or Musk-rats (Fig. 58), of which one 

 species inhabits Russia, and another the Pyrenees, agree with the 

 Water Shrews in their general habits, but differ in their denti- 

 tion. They are much larger animals, the head and body mea- 

 suring ten inches, and the tail seven ; and they feed on leeches 

 and small fishes, whilst they become in their turn the prey of the 

 larger, to which they communicate their musky odour. The 

 Macroscelides of Africa closely resemble the true Shrews, but 

 have their hind legs a good deal elongated, so that they are 

 enabled to spring in the same way as the equally rat-like Jer- 

 boas amongst the Rodent or gnawing Mammalia. 



178. Of the family ERINACEADJE we have also a character- 

 istic example, in the common Hedgehog, or Urchin, of this country; 

 an animal which is not uncommon in woods, copses, hedgerows, 

 &c., where it remains rolled up in its retreat during the day, 

 coming forth on the approach of twilight, and continuing on the 

 alert until morning. The power of doubling up the body, so as 

 to conceal the head and feet, and to present nothing but a ball, 

 thickly covered with spiny points, is more or less possessed by all 

 the animals of this family ; but it is nowhere so striking as in the 

 common Hedgehog, which possesses a peculiar muscle for the 

 purpose. The action of this muscle is not only to roll up the 

 body, but to set up and fix the spines, in such a manner that 

 they shall radiate from the ball. " Deprived by its structure," 

 says Mr. Bell (British Mammalia, p. 76), " of all means of 

 attacking its enemies, of defending itself by force, or of seeking 

 safety in flight, this harmless animal is yet endowed with a 

 safeguard more secure and effectual than the teeth and claws of 

 the Wild Cat, or the fleetness of the Hare. Its close covering 

 of sharp spines, which are hard without brittleness, sufficiently 

 elastic to bear great violence without breaking, and fixed with 



