Porcupine

Porcupine ant-eater (Zoöl.), the echidna. -- Porcupine crab (Zoöl.), a large spiny Japanese crab (Acantholithodes hystrix). -- Porcupine disease (Med.). See Ichthyosis. -- Porcupine fish (Zoöl.), any plectognath fish having the body covered with spines which become erect when the body is inflated. See Diodon, and Globefish. -- Porcupine grass (Bot.), a grass (Stipa spartea) with grains bearing a stout twisted awn, which, by coiling and uncoiling through changes in moisture, propels the sharp-pointed and barbellate grain into the wool and flesh of sheep. It is found from Illinois westward. See Illustration in Appendix. -- Porcupine wood (Bot.), the hard outer wood of the cocoa palm; -- so called because, when cut horizontally, the markings of the wood resemble the quills of a porcupine.