hedgehog

(hej‘hog), n. [ hedge + hog i.] 1. In zool., an insectivorous animal of the family Hrinaceide and genus Erinaceus, of which there are several species. The common European hedgehog, Hrinaceus ewropeeus, is about 9 inches long; the body is covered above with spines, and the animal can roll itself into a ball bristling in every direction. This it accomplishes by means of a very highly developed and specialized panniculus carnosus, or fleshy layer beneath the skin, which when the body is flexed acts as a sphincter, like the string which puckers the mouth of a bag. See cut under Hrinaceus. And whan he wenyth [think eth] it be an hare, full oft it is an hegye hogge. Julian a Berners, Treatyse of Fy hynge, fol. 1. Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen. Shak., M. N. D., ii. 3 (song). 2. One of several other animals characterized by numerous spines. (a) A Mad a gas can insectivorous animal of the family Centetidce and any of the genera Centetes, Ericulus, and Hemicentetes. Otherwise known as tenrec. (6) An Australian monotrematous mammal of the family Hchidnide; a spiny ant-eater, as Zaglo us bruijni. See ant-eater (a) (5), and cut under Echidnide. (c) A prickly fish of the genus Diodon, as D. hystrix, the porcupine-fish, more fully called sea-hedgehog. See cut under Diodon. (d) A sea-urchin. 8. In bot., a plant with echinate fruits. The ’ name is used especially (often in the plural) for Medicago Echinus (M. inter teat a), a native of Italy and Greece, the seeds of which are armed with short spines. It has also been given to Hrinacea pungens (Anthyllis erinacea), a a leguminous plant growing in Spain; to Ranunculus arvensis, a northern species; to Echinaria cap it at a, a gra of southern Europe; and to Hydnum erinaceus (also called hedgehog-hydnum), a fungus with tough elastic pileus, and very long eben oe hymeneal spines, growing on the Y trunks of oakand beech-trees, Also hedgehog-plant. 4. A kind of dredging-machine consisting of a series of spades fixed to the periphery of a cylinder, used for loosening mud, silt, ete., so that it may be carried off by the current.— 5. In Scotch mining, a broken strand or wire of a rope torn out while in motion and drawn up into a bundle. WN. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 322. —Hedgehog cone-flower. See cone-jflower.