400 



VERTEBKATA. 









THE FASCICULATED PORCUPINE. 



THE CANADA PORCUPINE 



The differences between this species and the common Porcupine are obvious at the first glance. 

 [ts general color is nearly the same, bnt with less intermixture of brown. The upper parts of the 

 body, the outer sides of the limbs, and the head, neck, and face, are of this dusky hue; but the 

 under parts, inside of the limbs, fore part of the neck, and throat, are of a grayish-white, with the 

 exc< ption of a darker band which crosses the breast in front of the fore-legs. The spines com- 

 mence upon the back of the head, where they are little more than an inch in length, and extend 

 to the root of the tail, occupying nearly the whole of the hack and sides. The longest are scarcely 

 more than from four to five inches in length, and extend t<> the root of the tail, occupying nearly 

 the whole of the haek and sides. They are mostly white at the base and black toward tin 

 tremity, hut many of them are black throughout, and others black above and white beneath. All 

 of them are marked on the upper surface by a deep and broad groove running the whole of their 

 length, and terminate in very sharp points. The skin in which they are implanted appears per 

 fectly white, and where the spines are mosl numerous is scarcely furnished with a single hair. A 

 few slenderer spines, running into lone- black bristles, are occasionally intermixed with the others. 

 The greater part of the tail is bare both of hairs and spines, and covered only by flat blackisl 

 scales, disposed in rings, the tip alone being surmounted by a tuft, or fascicle, or bundle of long 

 flat bristles, having the form neither of hairs nor of quills, but bearing a close resemblance to nar- 

 row slips of parchment cut in an irregular manner. This tuft or fascicle is of a whitish color, and 

 about two inches in length. The entire length of the body in a specimen lately at the Zoological 

 Gardens of London was little more than a foot, and that of the tail from four to five inches. The 

 whiskers wen- very long; the eyes small and black, and the cars short, round, and naked. T.ik« 

 the resl of its tribe, this species sleeps during the day, and becomes in some degree active <>nly 

 on the approach of night. Its intelligence is equally limited, and its manners equally fretful with 



those of the c n v] ies, like which, it raises its spines when irritated or disturbed, stamps 



with it- feet upon the floor of its cage, and swells and looks big in its defensive armor. It is found 

 in the Celebes Islands, and the Isles of the Indian Art-hipelago. 



