CARNARIA. 77 



been remarked on cutting' down the tree to which one was clinging-, and seizing it before it could extricate itseli 

 from the branches. They produce generally two young at a birth ; and their cry resembles the low cackle of a 



Goose.] 



All the other Carnuria have the mammaj situated on the belly. 



THE SECOND FAMILY OF CARNARTA,— 



INSECTIVORA,— 



Possess, like the Cheiroptera, grinders beset with conical points, and generally lead a nocturnal 

 or subterraneous life : they subsist principally on insects, and in cold countries most of them 

 pass the winter in a torpid state. They have no lateral membranes, as in the Cheiroptera ; 

 but the clavicles are never absent : their feet are short, and their movements feeble*; the 

 mammse are placed under the abdomen, and the penis in a sheath. None of them have a 

 ccecum, and in running they all place the entire sole of the foot upon the ground. 



They differ in the relative proportions and position of their incisors and canines. 



Some have long incisors in front, followed by other incisors [along the sides of their narrow 

 jaws], and canines, all shorter even than the molars; a kind of dentition, of which the Mal- 

 mags, among the Quadrumana, have already afforded an example, and which somewhat 

 approximates these animals to the Rodents : others have large separated canines, between 

 which are placed small incisors, being the ordinary disposition of these teeth both in the Quad- 

 rumana and Carnaria j and these two systems of dental arrangement occur in genera other- 

 wise very similar in the character of their teguments, in the form of then- limbs, and mode 

 of life. 



[It is in this group that we are led to identify the canine tooth as simply the first of the 

 false molars, which in some has two fangs ; and, as in the Lemurs, to perceive that the second 

 in the lower jaw is in some more analogous in size and character to an ordinary canine, than 

 that which follows the incisors. The incisor teeth are never more than six in number, which 

 is the maximum throughout placental Mammalia (as opposed to marsupial) ; and, in several 

 instances, one or two pairs are deficientf: the canines, with the succeeding false molars, are 

 extremely variable X ; but there are ordinarily three tubercidated molars posterior to the repre- 

 sentative of the carnivorous or cutting grinder of the true Carnivora. The snout in the 

 Insectivora is generally elongated.] 



The Urchins, or Hedgehogs {Erinaceus, Lin.) — 

 Have the body covered with prickles instead of hairs. The skin of the back is furnished with such 

 muscles that the animal, by inclining its head and feet towards the belly, is enabled to inclose itself as 

 in a purse, presenting only its spines towards an enemy. Their tail is very short, and their feet have 

 each five toes. They possess on each jaw six incisors, of which the middle are the longest ; and on 

 either side three false molars, three bristled true molars, and a small tuberculous tooth. 



The European Urchin (E. Enropceus, Lin). — A well known species, common in the woods and hedges. It sub- 

 sists chiefly on insects, but also feeds partly upon fruit, by which at a certain age its teeth become worn : passes 

 the winter in its burrow, whence it issues in the spring with an amplitude and complication of its resiculte seiiii- 

 nales that is almost incredible. [It produces a variable number of young, sometimes six or seven, which arc 

 bom with their eyes closed, and, what is remarkable, their ears also : their prickles are then thin, and few in 

 number, white, and at first flexile and disposed backward ; but they soon harden on exposure. The adults remain 

 concealed till the evening, when they run about in search of prey, with an omnivorous appetite ; they devour 

 Toads, and have been known to destroy leverets.] Pallas has noticed as an interesting fact, that the Urchin eats 

 hundreds of Cantharides without experiencing any ill eft'ect, whereas a single one produces horrible agony in a 

 Dog or Cat. 



[Ten other species are now known, distributed over Asia and Africa, but not Madagascar. Some are of small 

 size, and others have the ears considerably enlarged. 



* la Mdcroschelides, the liind feet are lengthened, and announce 

 ability ; while the Banxrings are said to be as lively as a Squirrel.— Ed. 



+ The forked iucisors of the Shrews appear each to represent two 

 teeth; and tlie analogues of the inferior central 



this genus, appear, in Solenodon and Myogalettf of small size, between 

 the representatives of the long: dentelatcd incisors of Sutcj-, 



t U should be remarked that a single tooth with two fangs is often 

 represented by two separate teeth, each with one fang. 



