I I.CTURE III. n 



iracting ami shaking the general skin of tin- 

 body, ma\ -oin. hint -, by this motion, cast oil' ;i 

 few of its IOOMT <juills to some distance, and tlms 



D slightly uoimd any aninuil tliat may happei. 

 in it^ \\ay . and this may have given rise 

 to tin- popular id< a of its darting them at pleasure 

 ai;am>t its ciieiii 



Tlw poet Claudian, it is well known, lias availed 

 hiniM If of this notion, and has represented the 

 Porcupine in tli u mil stile of false wit so re- 

 markable among the minor poets. 



" Ecce, brevis propriis munitur bestia telis, 

 Externam nee quirit opem, fert omnia secura, 

 Sc phareu^a, sese jaculo, sese utitur arcu !" 



" Ann'd at all points in Nature's guardian mail, 

 See the stout Porcupine his foes assail ; 

 And, urged to fight, the ready weapons throw,. 

 Himself at once the quiver, dart, and bow." 



;e are several different species of Por- 

 rnpinr, one of the most remarkable of which is 

 called tin- Canada Porcupine. It is of the size of a- 

 Miiali or half-grown Beaver, and has, at first sight, 

 so little of the appearance of a Porcupine, that 

 >uld hardly be supposed by any common- 



