86 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Its principal food is lettuces, dandelions, and plants 
of a milky nature, also fruits, worms, and insects. 
227. The Land Tortoise is particularly remarka- 
ble for its longevity, being known to exist upwards 
of a hundred and twenty years, and is so tenacious 
of life that it will live months after its brains have 
been extracted. 
THE PORCUPINE. 
228. The Porcupine is found in Africa and the 
East Indies. It is about two feet long, and fifteen 
inches in height. The upper part of its body is 
» covered with quills, which are about the thickness 
of those of a goose, but sharp and tapering at both 
ends, and capable of inflicting a mortal wound. 
229. Some naturalists have asserted, that it dis- 
charges these weapons into the bodies of animals it 
wishes to attack ; but this opinion is erroneous, for 
experience proves that the quills are immovable, 
and that the Porcupine uses them merely as a de- 
fence. 
230. Its real mode of attack is by lying down on 
one side, and suddenly rising when the enemy comes 
What does the Land Tortoise feed upon ? What is it particu- 
larly remarkable for ? 
Where is the Porcupine found ? What is its size, and what is 
it covered with ? What have naturalists asserted regarding’ its 
quills that is erroneous ? What is its real mode of attack ? 
