164 



THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. 



cover the whole of the hinder part of the 

 body, can be erected or depressed at pleasure 

 by means of a strong superficial muscle. The 

 noise occasioned thereby resembles the crack- 

 ling of withered branches. The animal places 

 itself in an attitude of defence by rolling itself 

 up in the form of 

 a ball, concealing 

 its head under its 

 body, and pre- 

 senting the 

 points of its 

 spines all round. 

 The spines easily 

 come off, and 

 when they do so 

 they show the 

 strong bristly 

 hairs with which 

 they are inter- 

 mingled. The 

 tail also is set 

 with spines. This 

 armour is not in 

 general so dan- 

 gerous as it ap- 

 pears. If we 

 press down the 

 spines with a 

 stick it is easy to 

 seize the animal 

 by the nape of 

 the neck, and 

 porcupines inspire the carnivorous animals 

 with no dread. 



The porcupine lives a solitary life in holes 

 which it digs in the ground, and which it 

 quits only at night. It is easily tamed, but 

 it exhibits extremely little intelligence. Its 

 scent is keen. 



The Brush -tailed Porcupines (Atherura) 

 are distinguished by their rather long body 

 resting on short legs. The tail is as long as 

 the body, and ends in a bunch of flattened 

 horny strips which are curiously twisted and 

 cut. Were it not for this singular appendage 



Fig. 224. — The Tri-coloured Tree-porcupine or Cuy {Cercolabes villosus) 



of the tail and the very sharp-pointed smooth 

 spines, which have a deep longitudinal groove, 

 these animals, with their short legs, round 

 head, and rounded ears, would resemble an 

 ichneumon rather than a porcupine. The 

 species shown in fig. 223, the African Brush- 

 tailed Porcupine 

 ~n : x^/X -jPs "//'" >- : t; {Atherura afri- 



cana), is a native 

 of Fernando Po; 

 the other species 

 live in tropical 

 Africa, in the 

 East Indies, and 

 on the Sunda 

 Islands. Their 

 mode of life is 

 nocturnal. The 

 spines of all these 

 species are much 

 more formidable 

 than those of the 

 porcupine. They 

 end in a recurved 

 hook, and since 

 they come out 

 very readily, they 

 remain sticking 

 in the wound 

 which they make. 

 The porcu- 

 pines of the New 

 World are all 

 climbers, and the South American species 

 have a tail capable of being rolled up like 

 that of a howling-monkey. As representative 

 of this group we have selected the Tri-coloured 

 Tree -porcupine, the Cuy of the natives 

 {Cercolabes villosus), fig. 224. The length of 

 its body is about 2 feet; the pointed tail is 

 naked on the back and measures about 14 

 inches. The various species of Cercolabes 

 are distinguished almost solely by their colour 

 and the relations of the spines and bristles on 

 their back. Their behaviour is like that of 

 sloths; in all their movements they are ter- 



