136 MAMMALIA. 
Hystrix insidiosa, Lichtenst.; the Couwiy of Azzara; Pr. Max. 
Brazil. America possesses one smaller, of which the spines are 
partly red or yellow, and hidden during a part of the year under its 
long greyish-brown hair. 
Lepus, Lin. 
Hares have a very distinctive character in their superior incisors, 
which are double, that is, each of them has a smaller one behind it.* 
Their molars, five every where, are individually formed of two vertical 
lamin soldered together, and in the upper jaw there is a sixth, simple 
and very small. They have five toes before and four behind; an enormous 
cecum, five or six times the size of the stomach, furnished internally 
with a spiral fillet, which traverses its length. The inside of their mouth 
and the under part of the feet are lined with hairs like the rest of the 
body. 
Lerus, Cuv. 
Or the true Hares, have long ears; a short tail; the hind feet much 
longer than the fore ones; imperfect clavicles, and the infra-orbitary 
spaces in the skeleton reticulated. The species are numerous, and so 
like each other that it is difficult to characterize them. 
L. timidus, L.; Buff. VII, xxxviii. (The Common Hare). Of 
a yellowish grey; the ears one-tenth longer than the head; ash 
coloured behind; black at the tips; tail the length of the thigh, 
white, with a black line above. 
Every one knows this animal, whose black flesh is agreeable food, 
and whose fur is useful. It lives solitarily, never burrows, sleeps 
on the open ground, when hunted describes large circles in the fields, 
and has never yet been domesticated. 
however, seems to be of little service to it, since it is heavy and ungraceful in its 
movements. Besides, the tail has this great peculiarity, which is found in no other 
animal, that the prehensile surface is above, instead of being as it uniformly is in all 
other animals with a prehensile tail; so that, when employed by the Coendou, it will 
be seen to curve in a direction exactly the reverse of that which takes place in the 
tails of the Simia. But the whole of its structure indicates its destiny to live in 
the woods and on trees; to select its permanent residence on the tops of trees, 
where it brings forth its young, because immediate nourishment is best attained in 
such a position. The spines, which almost wholly compose the external coat of the 
Coendou, adhere to the skin dy a very narrow pedicle; they are therefore very easily 
detached from the body. They are generally of a yellowish white colour at the root, 
black in the middle, and at the extremity white. The length of the body of the 
Coendou is about two feet, of the head four inches, of the tail a foot and three 
inches, and the height of the middle of the body twelve inches. The movements of 
the creature are slow, and it is like the Lemurs in taking exercise in the night only. 
It raises itself, as the Kanguroo does, on its hind feet, and with the fore feet grasps 
and carries food to its mouth. The species of Porcupines are numerous—they are 
found in Italy and Spain, having been originally brought to these kingdoms, as it is 
said, from Africa; they are common on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, in 
Guinea, and at the Cape of Good Hope; also in Asia Minor, South and North 
America. A Crested Porcupine may be seen in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s 
Park, which is anative of Northern Africa, and had been naturalized in Italy. When 
irritated, the Porcupine erects the spines on its body, and rattles those on its tail._— 
Ene. Ep. 
* There is even a period, when they are shedding their teeth, during which they 
appear to have three incisors, one behind the other, six in all. 
