216 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
much compressed, They have a yellow colour. The crowns of the grinders as they wear 
acquire an even surface. 
Fur.—The upper-lip is covered with short hair of a dull yellowish-brown colour. The 
cheeks and forehead are clothed with liver-brown hair, moderately long, interspersed with 
a very few black and white hairs. The hair on the body, both above and below, is long, 
and of a dull liver-brown colour, intermixed on all the upper parts and on the hips with still 
longer hairs, some of which are entirely black, others entirely white, and a third set black at 
the roots and white at the tips. The white hairs are most numerous on the posterior part 
of the body. There are also many round spindle-shaped, sharp-pointed spines or quills 
fixed amongst the hair which covers the upper parts. The spines commence on the crown 
of the head, and are there short, thick, very sharp-pointed, and very numerous, There are a 
good many longer and more slender ones on the shoulders and fore-part of the back. There are 
also many on the sides and middle of the back, but these are still more slender and flexible as 
well as less conspicuous. The buttocks and thighs are thickly set with long, very strong, and 
sharp spines, Some of the spines are entirely white, others brown at the tips. The throat 
and Gelly are covered with brown hair, not so long as that on the back, lying more smoothly, 
and unmixed with either white hairs or spines. ‘The tail is covered with brown hair above 
and below, and soiled white hair on its margin and tip. There are many small spines 
amongst the hair on its upper surface. 
_ The legs are covered with brown hairs, mixed on their exterior surfaces with some white 
ones. The palms are nearly oval, or rather egg-shaped, being semicircular before and 
narrower behind. There are four very short toes on the fore-feet, which are armed with long, 
compressed, curved, blackish claws, grooved underneath their whole length. Their points are 
not acute. ‘The middle or second fore-toe is rather the longest, the one on each side of it 
is scarcely inferior in length, and the outer one is a little smaller and somewhat further back. 
The hind-soles are oval, approaching to circular, larger than the palms, destitute of hair and 
covered with a rough skin like shagreen. ‘There are five toes on the hind-foot, which do not 
differ much from each other in length, but their roots and consequently their extremities are 
arranged in a curved line, corresponding with that of the anterior margin of the soles. The 
hind-claws resemble the fore-ones. ‘The hair which covers the upper surface of the feet curves 
down by the sides of the soles, and being worn even, as if clipped off, it forms a thick marginal 
brush, which considerably increases the diameter of the soles, and fits them for walking on 
the snow. 
The Canada porcupines vary in the depth of their colours. Pennant informs us that Sir 
Ashton Lever had a white one, 
DiMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. “Inches. Lines. 
Length of the head and body i - 30 0 Diameter of the eye @ : + 0 2 
a tail A a i 8 0 Breadth of the nose. 5 5 1 0 
Height of the centre of the back . - ‘14 0 | Length of the longest claw . yu 6 
Length of hair on the body }. . 3 9 
