Erinacead/E. MAMMALIA. Erinacead^e. 
70 
t^'lous and armed with powerful claws ; but the anterior 
pair are not specially modified for the purposes of 
burrowing like the moles. The tail is either very 
short or altogether absent. 
THE TENREC {Centenes setosus.) — This animal dif- 
fers from the ordinary hedgehogs both in respect of 
certain structural modifications, and also in the circum- 
stance of its not being able to fold itself up into a ball ; 
at least, its powers in this particular are extremely 
limited. The skin along the back is armed with a 
mixture of slender spines and bristles, and the body 
terminates abruptly behind without an}^ trace of a tail. 
Some ditference of opinion exists in regard to its den- 
tition, owing, perhaps, to the fact that many of the 
.specimens examined were quite young. In the adult 
state there are probably twelve incisors, four canines, 
twelve false and also twelve true molars — that is, forty 
teeth in all, equally divided between the two jaws, the 
canines being large and of a conical shape. The 
muzzle is much attenuated and proboscidiform. The 
tenrec is a native of the island of Madagascar ; it is 
possessed of nocturnal habits, and passes three months 
of the year in a state of hybernation. According to 
the statements of Brugiere, the torpidity occurs during 
the period of greatest heat. 
THE SOKINAH (Echinops Telfairi). — Under tliis 
title Mr. W. C. L. Martin has described, in the second 
volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society 
of London, a kind of hedgehog which, like the forego- 
ing, is an inhabitant of Madagascar. This animal is 
chiefly distinguished by tbe peculiarities of its den- 
tition. It possesses ten incisors, four only of these 
occupying the upper jaw, the anterior pair being 
strongly developed and placed somewhat in front of 
the others ; there appear to be four canines and but 
twenty-four molars — that is, five on each side of the 
upper, and seven on either side of the lower jaw; the 
crowns of the upper molar series are longitudinally 
grooved. Notwithstanding this dental arrangement, 
the Rokinah cani^ot be said to differ very materially 
from the hedgehogs properly so called. 
THE COMMON HEDGEHOG {Erinaceus europceux) 
Plate 6, tig. 20. — Most persons are familiar with this 
bristly urchin. All who have dwelt amid rural scenes 
or wandered along grassy hedgerows, have surely come 
in contact with our thorny friend. Yes ! we shall 
deign to consider him a friendly individual, notwith- 
standing that he turns his back upon us and displays a 
eheveux de frise of little bayonets pointing in every 
conceivable direction. “ Stay !” remarks one of my 
readers, “ he is an enemy ! To my certain knowledge, 
he has the credit of pilfering milk direct from the cow ; 
he is a notorious stealer of apples and pears ; he is an 
unsparing egg-poacher; and, moreover — which to my 
mind is the most cogent argument against him — he is a 
nasty, dirty little beast , for, as old Pliny observes, he 
sprinkles himself all over with urine, for the express 
purpose of disgusting alike his tormentors and admirers, 
thereby necessitating a respectful distance ! Wbat do 
you say to that. Sir; will you still call him a friend?” 
Patience ! impetuous reader, and you shall have my 
answer to your hypercritical censures upon this com- 
paratively harmless animal. In the first place, with 
regard to the asseverations of the ancient historian of 
nature, they may safely be regarded as tbe gratuitous 
offspring of a fertile imagination, having, in point of 
fact, no other foundation than such as I have myself 
witnessed — namely, an involuntary expulsion of the 
fluid secretion on the part of the animal itself, when 
suddenly and violently alarmed. Secondly, in regard 
to the milking propensities, no one has ever yet 
witnessed the animal’s indulgence of this refreshing 
experiment. Thirdly, with respect to his alleged carpo- 
logical thefts, the body is but ill-adapted for climbing 
fruit-trees, though I admit, in a time of famine, he will 
not refuse apples and pears which have accidentally 
fallen to the ground ; but the story to which you allude 
bears on its face the very stamp of absurdity, seeing it 
would have us believe that he not only ascends the 
tree, but, in tbe doubled-up state, voluntarily throws 
himself from the branches with sufficient precision 
to alight on the fallen fruits; these, in consequence, 
adhere to his skin, and, having unrolled himself, he 
hurries off with the desired booty upon his back ! 
Fourthly, while I grant there is strong evidence of his 
being a poacher, you must bear in mind, before hastily 
pronouncing him to be a worthless charactei', that he 
only resorts to fowls’ and pheasants’ eggs when the 
supply of mice, snails, slugs, worms, and various 
insects, fail to satisfy his legitimate demands. On the 
whole, therefore, will you not be disposed to regard 
the hedgehog as an erring creature which does more 
good than harm? Let me direct your attention to 
its organization. On closely contemplating the struc- 
ture of the hedgehog, we cannot fail to be struck with 
the marvellous adaptations provided for its comfort 
and security. “ Deprived,” sa 3 's Mr. Bell, in his 
admirable history of British quadrupeds, “ of all means 
of attacking its enemies, of defending itself by force, or 
of seeking safety in flight, this harmless animal is yet 
endowed with a safeguard more secure and effectual 
than the teeth and claws of the wild cat or the fleetness 
of the bare. Its close covering of sharp spines, which 
are hard without brittleness, sufficiently elastic to bear 
great violence without breaking, and fixed with aston- 
ishing firmness in the tough leathery skin, forms not 
onlj' a solid shield to protect it from the effects of 
blows or falls, but a shirt of prickly mail sufficiently 
sharp and annoying to deter all but a few thorough- 
bred dogs, or a half-starved fox, from venturing to 
attack it. Immediately it is touched, or when it 
sees danger approaching, it rolls itself up into a com- 
pact round ball, b^' the contraction of the powerful 
muscles which cover the body immediately under the 
skin, and presents this impenetrable panopljq beset by 
innumerable spines standing out in every direction; 
and the more it is irritated or alarmed, the more firmly 
it contracts, and the more strongly and stiffly the 
spines are set. The strength and elasticity of this 
covering is such, that I have repeatedly seen a domes- 
ticated hedgehog in my own possession run towards 
the precipitous wall of an area, and, without hesitation, 
without a moment’s pause of preparation, throw itself 
off, and, contracting at the same instant into a ball, in 
which condition it reached the ground from a height 
of twelve or fourteen feet, after a few moments it 
