70 



ERraAOEAD.B.- 



-MAMMALIA.- 



-EeINACEAI),15. 



tyloiis and armed witli powei fnl claws ; but the anterior 

 pair are not specially modified for tlie purposes of 

 burrowing like the moles. The tail is either very 

 short or altogether absent. 



THE TENEEC {Ceiiteiics setosus.) — This animal dif- 

 fers from the ordinary hedgehogs both in respect of 

 certain structural modifications, and also in the circum- 

 stance of its not being able to fold itself up into a ball ; 

 at least, its powers in this particular are extremely 

 limited. The skin along the back is armed with a 

 mixture of slender spines and bristles, and the body 

 terminates abruptly behind without any trace of a tail. 

 Some ditl'erence of opinion exists in regard to its den- 

 tition, owing, perhajis, to the fact that many of the 

 specimens examined were quite young. In the adult 

 state there are probably twelve incisors, four canines, 

 twelve false and also twelve true molars — that is, lorty 

 teeth in all, equally divided between the two jaws, the 

 canines being largo and of a conical shape. The 

 muzzle is much attenuated and ijroboscidiform. The 

 tenrec is a native of tlie island of Madagascar ; it is 

 possessed of nocturnal habits, and passes three months 

 of the year in a state of hybernation. According to 

 the statements of Briigiere, the torpidity occurs during 

 the period of greatest heat. 



THE SOKINAH {Ec/unops Tdfairi). — Under this 

 title Mr. W. C. L. Martin has described, in the second 

 volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society 

 of London, a kind of hedgehog which, like the forego- 

 ing, is an inhabitant of JMadagascar. This animal is 

 chiefly distinguished by the peculiarities of its den- 

 tition. It possesses ten incisors, four only of these 

 occupying the upper jaw, the anterior pair being 

 strongly developed and placed somewhat in front of 

 the others ; there appear to be four canines and but 

 twcnty-foiu' molars — that is, five on each side of the 

 upper, and seven on either side of the lower jaw ; the 

 crowns of the i-.pper molar series are longitudinally 

 grooved. Notwithstanding this dental arrangement, 

 the sokinah cam\ot be said to difi'er very materially 

 from the hedgehogs properly so called. 



THE COMMON HEDGEHOG [Erinaceus europccun) 

 riato 6, fig. 20. — Most persons are familiar with this 

 bristly urchin. All who have dwelt amid rural scenes 

 or wandered along grassy hedgerows, have surely come 

 in contact with our thorny friend. Yes! we shall 

 deign to consider him a friendly individual, notwith- 

 standing that he turns his back upon us and displays a 

 clicveux de frise of little bayonets pointing in every 

 conceivable direction. " Stay 1" I'emarks one of my 

 readers, " he is an enemy ! To my certain knowledge, 

 he has the credit of pilfering milk direct from the cow ; 

 he is a notorious stealer of apples and pears ; lie is an 

 unsparing egg-poacher ; and, moreover — which to my 

 nnnd is the most cogent argument against him — he is a 

 nasty, dirty little beast . for, as old Pliny observes, he 

 sprinkles himself all over with urine, for the express 

 purpose of disgusting alike his tormentors and admirers, 

 thereby necessitating a respectful distance ! What do 

 }'ou say to that. Sir ; will you still call him a friend?" 

 Patience 1 impetuous reader, and you shall have my 

 answer to your hypercritical censures upon this com- 

 paratively harmless animal. In the first place, with 



regard to the asseverations of the ancient hisljiian u( 

 nature, they may safely be regarded as the gratuitous 

 offspring of a fertile imagination, having, in point of 

 fact, no other foundation than such as I have myself 

 witnessed — namely, an involuntary expulsion of the 

 fluid secretion on the part of the animal itself, wlien 

 suddenly and violently alarmed. Secondly, in regard 

 to the milking propensities, no one has ever yet 

 witnessed the animal's indulgence of this refreshing 

 experiment. Thirdly, with respect to his alleged carpo- 

 logical thefts, the body is but ill-adapted for climbing 

 fruit-trees, though I admit, in a time of famine, he will 

 not refuse apples and pears which have accidentally 

 fallen to the ground; but the story to which you allude 

 bears on its face the very stamp of absurdity, seeing it 

 would have us believe that he not only ascends the 

 tree, but, in the doubled-up state, voluntarily throws 

 himself from the branches with sufficient precision 

 to alight on the fallen fruits ; these, in consequence, 

 adhere to his skin, and, having unrolled himself, he 

 hurries off with the desired booty upon his back ! 

 Fourthly, while I grant there is strong evidence of his 

 being a poacher, you must bear in mind, before hastily 

 pronouncing him to be a worthless character, that he 

 only resorts to fowls' and pheasants' eggs when the 

 supply of mice, snails, slugs, worms, and various 

 insects, f:iil to satisfy his legitimate demands. On the 

 whole, therefore, will you not be disposed to regard 

 the hedgehog as an erring creature which does more 

 good than harm ? Let me direct your attention to 

 its organization. On closely contcmjjlating the struc- 

 ture of the hedgehog, we cannot fail to be struck with 

 the marvellous adaptations provided for its comfort 

 and security. " Deprived," says Mr. Bell, in his 

 admirable history of British quadrupeds, " of all means 

 of attacking its enemies, of defending itself by force, or 

 of seeking safety in flight, this harmless animal is yet 

 endowed with a safeguard more secure and effectual 

 than the teeth and claws of the wild cat or the fleetness 

 of the hare. Its close covering of sliarp spines, which 

 are hard without brittleness, sufficiently elastic to bear 

 great violence without breaking, and fixed with aston- 

 ishing firmness in the tough leathery skin, forms not 

 only a solid shield to protect it from the effects of 

 blows or falls, but a shirt of prickly mail sutficiently 

 sharp and annoying to deter all but a few thorough- 

 bred dogs, or a half-starved fox, from venturing to 

 attack it. Immediately it is touched, or when it 

 sees danger approaching, it rolls it.self up into a com- 

 pact round ball, by the contraction of the powerfid 

 muscles which cover the body immediately under the 

 skin, and presents this impenetrable panoply, beset by 

 innumerable spines .standing out in every direction; 

 and the more it is irritated or alarmed, the more firmly 

 it contracts, and the more strongly and stiffly the 

 spines are set. The strength and elasticity of this 

 covering is such, that I have repeatedly seen a domes- 

 ticated hedgehog in my own possession run towards 

 the precipitous wall of an area, and, without hesitation, 

 without a moment's pause of preparation, throw itself 

 off, and, contracting at the same instant into a ball, in 

 which condition it reached the ground from a height 

 of twelve or fourteen feet, after a few moments it 



