Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

Of Hiricio. cap. 62.* 1.1

THe Irchin is called Hiricus,* 1.2 and is a beast couered with pricks, hard and sharpe, and his skinne is cloased about with pikes and prickes, and hée cloaseth himselfe therwith, and defendeth himselfe therewith all about, for anone as he kno∣weth and féeleth that anye thing com∣meth after him, he areareth vp the pricks and wrappeth him therein as a clew, as it were within his armour: and is a beast of purueyaunce: For he climbeth vpon a vine or on an apple trée, & shaketh downe grapes and Apples. And when they bée feld, he walloweth on them, & sticketh his pricks in thē, aud so beareth meat to his young in that manner wise, as Isi. saith, li. 12. And for roughnesse & sharpnesse of the pricks & pikes, he is called Hirena∣cius or Hiricius, and hath as Aristotle saith, li. 1. pikes in stéed of haire: and pi••s héeleth him as the haire of other beasts, and be his weapon and armour: for with them he stingeth & pricketh and hurteth him that taketh or toucheth him. Also li. 3. Aristotle saith, y^t some Irchins dwell in woods, & some in other places in land, & some in water, & lay many egs that be not eaten. And Irchins haue but lyttle flesh, and this is the propertye of him, hée hath beneath head and mouth, and outpassing of superfluitye aboue, for hée taketh his meate beaneth, and hath therefore an hoale in the other side, and the superfluity•• is in the ridge aboue, and the Irchin hath fiue téeth within

the mouth, and hath amonge the téeth fleshy parts in stéed of the tongue: & his wombe is departed in fiue parts, & therin is much superfluitie. And there is a man∣ner kind of Irchins with a white shell & white pikes, and layeth many egges. Also the Irchin hath feeble hearing, more fee∣ble then other beasts with hard shells, and that goe on foure féete. Also libro. 5. wilde Irchins gender standing, with back turned to backe: For in that part, in y^t which superfluitie passeth out, there they touch themselues in generation. Al∣so there li. 8. it is said, y^t often it séemeth, that in Irchins is wit and knowing of cōming of winds, North or South: for he maketh a den in the ground, when he is ware that such windes come. And so sometime was one in Constantinople, y^t had an Irchin, and knew & warned ther∣by, that windes shoulde come, & of what side, and none of his neighbours wist whereby he had such knowledge & war∣ning. Also li. 12. he sayth, that the Irchin hath also as many wombes as téeth, and in these wombes bréedeth fiue egges bet∣ter then other, and the egges of some bee much and greate, and some be lesse: for some bée better to séething and defieng then other. Also li. 19. Irchins haue a lit∣tle body and many pikes, that, occupye more place then the bodye, and the cause of many great prickes, & the littlenesse of the body is, for féeding of the bodye pas∣seth into nourishing and growing of pikes, because of scarcity of heat, & for the meat is not well defied, & therfore in his bodye breedeth much superfluity, & that superfluity passeth into nourishing & fee∣ding of prickes. Huc vsque Arist.

(* 1.3Histrix, is the Porcapine, like vnto the Hedghog, but more stronger armed with prickes, and bigger bodyed.)

Notes

• * 1.1

  Echino.
• * 1.2

  Hedghoy
• * 1.3

  Additiō.