90 MAMMALIA. 



They live in burrows, and have many of the habits of the rabbit. To their 

 grunting voice, and thick truncated muzzle, are they indebted for being com- 

 pared to the pig, and for their corresponding French appellation of pore-epic. 



PORCUPINES, properly so called, 



Have the head more or less convex or vaulted, by the development of the 

 bones of the nose. They have four toes before, and five behind, all armed with 

 stout nails. 



H. cristata. (The Common Porcupine.) Inhabits the south of Italy, Spain, 

 and Sicily ; it is also found in Barbary. The spines are very long, and annu- 

 lated with black and white ; a mane composed of long hairs occupies the head 

 and neck. The tail is short, and furnished with hollow truncated tubes, 

 suspended to slender pedicles, which make a noise when shaken by the 

 animal. We separate from the true porcupines the 



ATHERURCS, Cuvier. 



Where neither the head nor muzzle is inflated, and in which we observe a 

 long non-prehensile tail ; the toes are like those of the true porcupines. 



Hysf. fasciculata, Lin., Buff. (The Pencil-tailed Porcupine.) The upper 

 part of the spines on the back grooved, and the tail terminated by a bundle of 

 flattened horny slips, constricted from space to space. 



ERETISON, F. Cuvier. 



The Ursons have a flat cranium ; the muzzle short, and not convex ; the tail 

 of a middle size, and the spines short, and half hidden in the hair. One 

 species only is known, the 



Hystrix dorsata, Lin. (The Urson.) From North America. 



SYNETHERES, F. Cuvier. 



The muzzle short and thick ; the head vaulted in front, and the spines short ; 

 the tail long, naked at the extremity, and prehensile, like that of an Opossum 

 or Sapajou. There are only four toes, all armed with claws; they climb trees. 



LEPUS, Linnceus. 



Hares have a very distinctive character in their superior incisors, which are 

 double, that is, each of them has a smaller one behind it. Their molars, five 

 every where, are individually formed of two vertical lamince soldered together, 

 and in the upper jaw there is a sixth, simple and very small. They have five 

 toes before and four behind. The inside of their mouth and the under part 

 of the feet are lined with hairs like the rest of the body. 



LEPCS, Cuwier, 



Or the true Hares, have long ears ; a short tail ; the hind feet much longer 

 than the fore ones ; imperfect clavicles, and the iufra-orbitary spaces in the 



