THE PORCUPINE ANT-EATEE. 73 



very graphic account of its clinging powers : — " When one of 

 these animals was given to me, and placed in the box of the gig 

 to bring home, on arriving there I could not by any effort re- 

 move it, from its^ adhering to the boards like a limpet to the 

 rocKs (the head and snout being drawn in). Only a formidable 

 array of prickles was visible, so sharp that on the least touch 

 they left a very painful feeling on the hands. So firmly was the 

 animal fixed, that it was impossible to stir it from that position. 

 At last, the method of removing limpets and chitons from the 

 rocks was resorted to, and a spade being inserted gradually at 

 one extremity of the animal, it was scraped from its position with 

 some difficulty, and even then it was some length of time before 

 we succeeded in grasping the hind legs, and conveying the troub- 

 lesome creature to the place of confinement allotted to it." 



Grasping it by the hind leg is the only method of conveying 

 this animal with safety, for it kicks so hard with "its powerful and 

 armed feet, that the hands and clothes will suffer severely from 

 the strokes ; while the violent plunges of the body are sure to 

 bring the pointed prickles into unpleasant contact with the fin- 

 gers. In spite of the difficulty of procuring living specimens, 

 and the interest which attaches itself to an animal of whose hab- 

 its so little is known, Dr. Bennett was not very sorry when his 

 specimen — which we can not call a tame one — was one day 

 found dead; for its burrowing propensities were so destructive, 

 and its prickles so annoying, that it made itself into a positive 

 nuisance. 



If attacked when on ground into which it can not burrow rap- 

 idly, the Porcupine Ant-eater immediately curls itself into a ball, 

 hedgehog-wise, and sets its foes at defiance. The large perfora- 

 ted spur with which the hind feet of the male are armed, and 

 through which is poured a liquid secreted by a gland of consid- 

 erable size, is a very formidable-looking weapon, but to all ap- 

 pearances is really harinless. Dr. Bennett often handled the ani- 

 mal, but never saw it attempt to use the spur, and found that 

 the duckbill, which is armed in a similar manner, was equally 

 innocuous. 



At the present date, January, 1864, the living animal may be 

 seen in the collection at the Zoological Gardens. 



