94 LECTURE III. 



with very long, strong, and sharp spines or quills, 

 elegantly variegated with alternate zones of black 

 and white. The common Porcupine, which is 

 about the size of a small dog, is a native of many 

 of the warmer regions of Asia and Africa, and 

 even of some of the warmer parts of Europe. It 

 is an animal of a harmless nature ; feeding en- 

 tirely on vegetable substances, as roots, barks of 

 trees, and fruits. It inhabits subterraneous re- 

 treats, which it is said to form into several com- 

 partments or divisions, leaving only a single hole 

 for entrance. It seems to admit of several va- 

 rieties as to size, and length of its quills, and is 

 distinguished, as a species, by having the upper 

 part of the head crested as it were by long- 

 bristles. 



It would be a waste of time to particularize 

 the long-continued error (for such it, in a great 

 degree, is), of the Porcupine possessing the power 

 of darting its quills at pleasure, with great vio- 

 lence, and to a considerable distance, at its ene- 

 mies: this notion seems now pretty generally ex- 

 ploded, and perhaps might have originated from, 

 some accidental circumstances ; for the Porcupine, 

 like most other quadrupeds, having the power of 



