THE PORCUPINES. 135 



black hue ; the neck is marked with a whitish collar ; from the back of the head and neck there rises a 

 great crest of long bristles, many of them fifteen or sixteen inches in length, which can be elevated and 

 depressed at the pleasure of the animal, are gently curved backwards, and are either dusky with the 

 extremities white, or whitish throughout ; the hinder portion of the body is entirely covered by a great 

 number of long, sharp spines, ringed with black and white, but always having the extremities white. 

 These spines vary considerably in size, some of them being very long (fifteen or sixteen inches), com- 

 paratively slender and flexible ; others shorter (from six to twelve inches), but mush stouter. They are 

 all hollow, or filled only with a sort of spongy tissue, but from their structure are exceedingly resistant, 

 and when the animal erects them, which he is able to do by contracting the muscles of the skin in 

 which their roots are imbedded, they constitute a most formidable armature. They appear to be but 

 loosely attached to the skin, and readily fall out, a circumstance which no doubt gave rise to the belief 

 prevalent among the ancients (and many moderns) that the Porcupine was able to shoot his spines at 

 an approaching enemy, or even to project them behind him at a pursuer when he was rushing away in 

 search of a place of safety. The tail of the animal bears at its tip about twenty spines of very curious 

 construction ; they are about two inches long, hollow, open, and cut off square at the end, and about 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter for the greater part of their length, but they are inserted into the skin 

 by the extremity of a thin stalk half an inch long. 



The Poixmpine lives in holes among the rocks, or in a burrow, which he makes for himself in 

 ordinary ground. In this retreat he passes the day in sleep, coming forth in the evening in search of 

 food, which consists of herbage of various kinds, fruits, roots, and the bark and leaves of trees and 

 bushes. He is slow in his movements, and does not even display much activity in burrowing. His 

 habits are solitary except during the pairing season ; and during the winter he passes most of his time 

 in his habitation, without, however, falling into a torpid state. The pairing takes place early in the 

 year, but varies in this respect according to the climate of the locality ; and in the spring or early 

 summer the female produces from two to four young, in a nest carefully lined with leaves, grasses, 

 roots, and other vegetable substances. The young Porcupines are born with their eyes open, and their 

 bodies are covered with short, soft spines, which are pressed closely to the body. These speedily harden 

 and grow longer, and the young do not appear to remain very long with their mother. The flesh of 

 the Porcupine, like that of most purely vegetable-feeding Rodents, is very good, and is eaten in the 

 countries where the animal occurs. When pursued or irritated, he stands on the defensive, erects his 

 formidable quills and crest, stamps on the ground with his hind feet after the manner of a Hare, jerks 

 himself towards the object of his dread, as if to wound it with his spines, and at the same time produces 

 a curious noise by rattling the open quills of the tip of his tail. But all these mano3uvres are 

 generally in vain, and the Porcupine, in spite of his defensive armour, is pi*etty easily captured by 

 those who know how to set about it. The Leopard is said to manage the business at once by a single 

 blow of his paw on the head. 



A very similar Porcupine (Hystrix hirsutirostris) takes the place of this species in Syria and 

 Asia Minor, and extends thence eastward to India; another (H. javanica) inhabits the Sunda 

 Islands ; and the district of Nepaul has a peculiar species of its own. In Siam and Malacca, and on the 

 west coast of Africa, we find two species of an allied genus, in which the spines of the body are com- 

 paratively short and depressed, and the tail is elongated, scaly, with a few scattered bristles in the 

 middle, and with a large tuft of long flat bristles at the tip. The Malayan species (AtJierura fasciculata) 

 is about eighteen inches long, the African one (A. africami) about fourteen inches. Both are 

 somewhat rat-like in their form. 



The Tree Porcupines, forming the second sub-family, several species with prehensile tails, range 

 over the continent of South America, east of the Andes, and one of them, the Mexican Tree Porcupine 

 (Sp/nnyurus mexicanus), is found as far north as Guatemala and Southern Mexico. The most 

 abundant and widely-distributed species in the Brazilian region are the COUENDOU (Spliingurus 

 preliensilis) and the COUIY (S. vUlosus), inhabiting Guiana, Brazil, and Bolivia, the latter being found 

 throughout the forest region of Brazil and as far south as Paraguay. 



These animals are of considerable size, visually measuring from sixteen to twenty inches in length 

 without the tail, which is about one-third the length of the head and body. By the aid of the pre- 

 hensile tip of this organ they climb with great facility and security upon the branches of the trees, but 



