ZOOLOGY. 



The hedgehog has the body covered with spines or rjuills 

 intend ..!' Eaif, :inl the skiii of the back is provided with a 

 large oval muscle, so that the animal can roll itself into a ball, 

 thus presenting nothing but spines for the enemy to attack. 

 They live in the woods, and lie concealed during the day be- 

 tween the roots of old trees. They are common in France. 



Fig. 203. The Hedgehog. 



The shrew mouse is a small animal, at first sight resembling 

 a mouse. The body is covered with hairs, and on each 

 flank is a small band of stiff hairs, between which is seereted 

 and exudes an odorous humour. They burrow under ground, 

 and live on insects and worms. It is a popular error to ac- 

 cuse them of giving rise to a disease in horses and mules by 

 their bite. 



Moles are animals essentially subterranean and burrowing. 

 The body is thick and short ; their muzzle is elongated, and 

 terminated by a moveable snout, adapted to burrow; and their 

 anterior limbs, though short, are extremely strong and broad, 

 turned outwards, and terminated by strong claws admirably 

 adapted to dig (Fig. 185). By means of these instruments, 

 moles dig, with great rapidity and admirable instinct, long 

 galleries under ground, in which they dwell. Molehills are 

 formed of the product of these excavations. They seldom 

 quit their excavations, and live on insects and worms. De- 

 stined to live in profound darkness, their eyes are scarcely 

 ]>iTrejitille, and there is a species of the mole which is com- 

 pletely blind. The mole has twenty-two teeth in each jaw, 

 or forty-four in all. The common mole of the fields, of a 



