532 



REPOET OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



were not abundant, as was learned from various sources. The dog 

 jumped on this one with the evident intention of tearing it to 

 pieces at once, but immediately relinquished his grasp." In the 

 course of several years' trapping along the Kankakee about 1870, 

 Mr. I. N. Lamb saw but one porcupine. Two specimens in the 

 State Museum are said to have been taken in Laporte County not 

 many years ago. Mr. Chansler says that a number of old settlers 

 have spoken of it as being common in Knox and Daviess counties 

 in the period previous to 1836. The last record for that region is 

 1864, when F. F. Chambers saw one near Chambers' pond in Knox 

 County. 



Evermann and Butler give the following records: Lafayette, 

 about 1882; Franklin County, date not stated; Lagrange County, 

 1860-1870; Huntington County, about 1885; Randolph County, 

 about 1875; Grant County, 1892. The last is the latest authentic 

 record I know for the State, although it probably survived along 

 the Kankakee a few years later. 



Habits. — ^The porcupine is a good examj)le of a species over- 

 specialized for a certain mode of life. In his native woods he was 

 sometimes attacked by lynxes, panthers and perhaps wolves, when 

 these animals were driven to desperation by extreme hunger. But 

 even these fierce creatures often paid the penalty of their greed 

 with their lives. For although the porcupine is an unresisting foe, 

 has armature is dangerous to any captor, and the sharp, barbed 

 quills work their way deeper into the flesh and sometimes pene- 

 trate the vital organs. The quills can not be shot out from the 

 animal like arrows, as some people suppose, but they have very 

 sharp, barbed points so that the slightest touch is sufficient to get 

 them into the flesh. Being loosely attached to the animal, they are 

 pulled away, and the barbs prevent their ready extraction and 

 cause them to work deeper into the flesh with every movement of 

 the muscles. 



The food of the porcupine is the bark, buds and twigs of trees, 

 and hence there is always an abundant supply in the forests where 

 these animals make their homes. They are active principally at 

 night, and during the day sleep in a hollow log or a hole among 

 the rocks with their spiny backs towards the entrance. They do 

 not hibernate for the entire winter, but remain in IIkmp dens dur- 

 ing bad weather, api)arently from sh(H»r laziqess, as an abundance 

 of food is always near. 



From th<' foregoing slalcincnis i1 will he seen lliat the struggle 

 U)\' existence is almost a negligible Factor in the lile of the porcu- 



