330 HfSTORY OF 



CHAP II. 



THE HEDGEHOG, OB PRICKLY KIND. 



Animals of the Hedgehog kind require but very little accu- 

 racy to distinguish them from all others. That hair which serves 

 the generality of quadrupeds for warmth and ornament is partly 

 wanting in these ; while its place is supplied by sharp spines or 

 prickles, that serve for their defence. This general characteris- 

 tic, therefore, makes a much more obvious distinction than any 

 that can be taken from their teeth or their claws. Nature, by 

 this extraordinary peculiarity, seems to have separated them in a 

 very distinguished manner ; so that, instead of classing the 

 hedgehog among the moles, or the porcupine with the hare, as 

 some have done, it is much more natural and obvious to place 

 them, and others approaching them in this strange peculiarity, 

 in a class by themselves : nor let it be supposed, that while I 

 thus alter their arrangement, and separate them from animals 

 with which they have been formerly combined, that I am des- 

 troying any secret affinities that exist in nature. It is natural, 

 indeed, for readers to suppose, when they see two such op- 

 posite animals as the hare and the porcupine assembled together 

 in the same group, that there must be some material reason, 

 some secret connection, for thus joining animals so little resem- 

 bling each other in appearance. But the reasons for this union 

 were very slight, and merely arose from a similitude in the fore- 

 teeth : no likeness in the internal conformation, no similitude 

 in nature, in habitudes, or disposition ; in short, nothing to fasten 



the blame of having led us into tliis error by rendering the word ao-jraXocJ 

 jiito talpa, and applying that word to the mole of Europe. 



The spalax lives gregariously underground. They bore excavations 

 which are not far from the surface, in search of food, but dig a hole lower ii 

 the earth for personal retreat and safety. They prefer cultivated grounds 

 and as they subsist principally, if not entirely on roots, they become serious 

 destroyers of the fruits of agricultiu-e. Their movements are precipitate, 

 turning or running sideways, or even backward with facility, when driven 

 and in danger, and they bite with great force and effect. When on the sur- 

 face, they almost always carry the head raised apparently for tl>e piu-posa 

 more effectually of hearing what is passing aroimd them ; thus relying on 

 their most perfect faculty for a forewarning of approaching danger, wluch 

 they have not the means of detecting by sight 



