210 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



of the propensities of the omnivorous Rodentia to eat 

 flesh, but confines itself entirely to the food already stated. 



The period of gestation, and other incidental particulars 

 are not known, but it is once only in the year, and toward 

 September or October, that the female brings forth, and the 

 young are said to be very few at a birth. The slowness, un- 

 certainty, or difficulty of reproduction, may afford a solu- 

 tion of the question, why these animals are furnished with 

 extraordinary means of protection and self-defence ; but 

 we do not know, that the circumstances of all the spiny 

 quadrupeds will warrant such a conjecture generally. 



The Prehensile Porcupine is a native of many parts of 

 South America. 



The genus Lepus includes many species, but these have 

 so many points of identity or similarity, or, in other words, 

 are so nearly alike in most particulars, that it is difficult to 

 distinguish whether their relative specific characters are 

 those of affinity or analogy. This difficulty is increased 

 when it is considered, that they are widely spread over the 

 earth's surface in the new world, as well as in the old, and 

 that a diffused allocation is a great promoter of those 

 differences which are decidedly attributable to variety. 

 The common Hare, the Rabbit, and the Variable Hare, are 

 natives of Europe ; one species, the Tolai, is very common 

 in Siberia. The northern and the southern extremities of 

 the peninsula of Africa produce Hares very nearly allied 

 to one another. In North America we have a species very 

 like our own, and in South America is found the smallest 

 of them all, the Tapiti. These species appear to be the 

 best known and admitted by zoologists, though several 

 others have been mentioned by travellers as distinct. 



All the species are alike under the continued influence of 

 fear, and as their eyes are presumed not to be perfect during 

 daylight, and their lateral direction prevents the animal see- 



