CANADA PORCUPINE. 279 



lateral and small ; ears, small, rounded, covered by short fur, and con- 

 cealed by the adjoining long hair ; incisors, large and strong. 



Legs, very short, and rather stout ; claws, tolerably long, compressed, 

 moderately arched, and channeled beneath. 



There are tufts of hair situated between the toes ; palms, naked, and 

 nearly oval, hard and tuberculous ; on the fore-feet there are four short 

 toes, the second, counting from the inside, longest, the third a little 

 smaller, the first a size less, and the fourth smallest. On the hind-foot 

 there are five toes, with claws corresponding to those on the fore-foo.. 

 The hairs are so thickly and broadly arranged along the sides of the soles 

 that they give a great apparent breadth to the foot, enabling this clumsy 

 animal to walk with greater ease in the snow. It is plantigrade, and 

 like the bear, presses on the earth throughout the whole length of the 

 soles. Tail, short and thick, covered above vrith spines, beneath with 

 long rigid hairs ; when walking or climbing, it is turned a little upwards. 

 Four mammae, all pectoral. 



WhOst the whole upper surface of the body is covered with spines, the 

 under surface is clothed with hair intermixed with fur of a softer kind. 

 The hair on the throat, and under the belly is rather soft ; along the sides 

 it is longer and coarser, and under the tail appears like strong bristles. 



Incisors, deep orange ; whole upper surface, blackish-brown, inter- 

 spersed with long hairs, many of them being eight inches in length ; 

 these hairs are for four-fifths of their length dark-brown, vnth the points 

 from one to two inches white. There are also long white hairs inter- 

 spersed under the fore-legs, on the chest, and along the sides of the tail. 



The spines, or quills, which vary in length from one to four inches, are 

 white from the roots to near their points, which are generally dark brown 

 or black ; frequently brown, and occasionally white. On some speci- 

 mens the spines are so abundant and protrude so far beyond the hair that 

 portions of the body, especially the hips, present a speckled appearance, 

 owing to the preponderance of the long white quills tipped with black. 

 The nails and whole under surface are dark brown. 



There is in this species a considerable difference both in the size and 

 colour of different specimens. 



There are three specimens before us, that with slight variations an- 

 swer to the above description and to the figure on our plate. Another, 

 ■which we obtained at Fort Union on the Missouri, is of enormous size, 

 measuring thirteen inches across the back ; the long hairs on the shoulders, 

 forehead, and sides of which, are light yellowish-brown, whilst another 



