THE LONG-EARED HEDGEHOG. 
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when otherwise unprotected, its roof suffices to throw off the rain. The young, which vary in number 
from three to seven or eight, are, when first born, about three inches long, white, blind, and quite 
naked, except that they already possess the rudiments of their spines, which are then quite soft and 
flexible. In about four-and-twenty hours the spines have grown to a length of one-sixth of an inch, 
and acquired some hardness. The young animals, according to Gilbert Wlnte, have little hanging 
ears, and he adds that “ they can in part draw their skin down over their faces, but are not able to 
contract themselves into a ball." In about a month the young have acquired nearly the colour of 
their parents, and are then taken out by the mother to feed, although she still suckles them lor 
a time. 
In captivity, if kindly treated, the Hedgehog soon becomes familiar. He takes readily to almost 
any diet, and, according to Dr. Ball, he will even partake of intoxicating liquors, which, curiously 
enough, seem to have the effect of making him immediately quite tame, after passing through 
a period of inebriety, during which his gestures and proceedings have a most ludicrous resemblance to 
those of a drunken man. 
THE LONG-EARED HEDGEHOG * 
This species has the ears much larger and the muzzle longer than in the Common Hedgehog, and 
its legs also are longer and not so stout. The tail is very short. The spines, which are marked with 
from twenty to twenty-two little furrows, are white at the base, brown in the middle, and yellowish 
at the tip ; the head is covered with hair of a dirty wdiitish colour ; and on each side of the mouth 
there are four rows of long brown whiskers. This animal is only about two-thirds the size of the 
European Hedgehog. It is found in the western part of Asiatic Russia, especially about the Caspian, 
in Tartary, and Siberia. It does not occur in Persia, according to Mr. Blanford, although included by 
Schmarda in his list of the animals of Mesopotamia. It inhabits the province of Astrakhan, in south 
Russia, which makes it a European species. Very little is known of the habits of the Long-eared 
Hedgehog, but from that little it would appear to agree in most, if not all respects, with its European 
relative. 
Several other species of Hedgehogs have been described, the majority of them from the Asiatic 
continent, reaching even to the district of the Amoor, from which Schrenck described one under the 
name of Erinaceiis amuremis> which is supposed by Mr. Bell to be a variety of the Common Hedgehog. 
Mr. Blanford describes a peculiar Persian species with large ears and long spines (. E . macraccmthus), 
and Mr. Blytli another from Candaliar (A. megalotis). Several Indian species are noticed by various 
authors, and some of these seem to be widely distributed, such as 
THE COLLARED HEDGEHOG, t 
whose range extends from Madras to Candahar and Afghanistan. It is about eight or nine inches 
long, and has the spines irregularly interwoven, ringed with white and black, with the tips yellow, or 
simply white and black, or black with a white ring in the middle j the ears, which are tolerably large, 
and the chin, are white ; and the belly and legs pale brown. 
Of this, and two other species observed by him in Candahar, Captain Hutton says : — “ They are 
nocturnal, and during the day conceal themselves in holes, or in the tufts of high jungle grass. Their 
food consists of insects, chiefly of a small Beetle, which is abundant on the sandy tracts of Bhawalpore, 
and belongs to the genus Blaps. They also feed on Lizards and Snails. When touched they have the 
habit of suddenly jerking up the back with some force, so as to prick the fingers or mouth of the 
assailant, and at the same time emitting a blowing sound, not unlike the noise produced wher 
blowing upon a flame with a pair of bellows.” They have as complete a power of rolling themselves 
into a ball as the European Hedgehog, 
One species of the genus, the Concolorous Hedgehog (E. concolor), appears to be peculiar to Asia 
Minor; others are found in Egypt, Algeria, the Sahara, and other parts of North Africa; and two are 
recorded from the Cape of Good Hope. 
+ Erinaceiis collar is. 
46 
# Eriimceus avritus. 
