228 



THE NATURE BOOK 



work of tissues, which are attached to 

 the projecting inner ridges and to the 

 spaces between them. 



The object of this beautiful structure 

 (as a whole) is evidently a nice adjust- 



from a fair height, he has time to make 



a ball of himself. If the fall is a short 



one he lands anyhow. 



An additional protection against the 



quill acting as a two-edged weapon is 

 afforded by the form of its root. 

 This is mushroom - shaped, the 

 flat surface being towards the 

 skin and the round surface to- 

 wards the body. The flat surface 

 effectually prevents the quill from 

 being pulled out (a Hedgehog can 

 easily be lifted by a single quill), 

 while the round surface helps to 

 prevent laceration of the tissues 

 l)elow if a sudden blow drives 

 it in. The taper at the root end 

 tends to make the quill more 

 elastic. 



The quills are brought to the 

 charge mainly by a sheet of 

 striped surface muscle, the pan- 

 ni cuius carnostis, which extends 

 over the whole of the animal's 



m e n t between 

 the rigidity 

 necessary if the 

 quills are to act 

 as a defensive 

 weapon, and the 

 elasticity neces- 

 sary to prevent 

 their breaking 

 short off. or being 

 driven backward 

 through the skin, 

 as a result of a 

 fall or violent 

 blow. I have 

 never known a 

 Hedgehog follow 

 the books so far 

 as to take a fall 

 voluntarily, but 

 a Hedgehog, 

 higher than he 



cares to be, will waddle backwards and 

 forwards along the edge of the drop, 

 until his own clumsiness eventually 

 sends him over. As he loses balance he 

 instinctively rolls up, and, if the fall is 



m 



THE HEDGEHOG, UNCOILED AND COILED. 



body and makes him, quite apart from his 

 prickles, a very difficult subject to skin. 



Fragmentary patches of this muscle 

 appear under different names in ourselves, 

 and boys are occasionally to be met 



