192 EDENTATA. 
that he has frequently heard of its existence in the forests of the northern part of Vera 
Paz, but that the only one that had been killed to his knowledge was one obtained by 
a friend of his near Punta Gorda, on the coast of the Bay of Honduras. From Panama 
Messrs. Godman and Salvin once received a specimen from their collector Arcé, which 
they supposed had passed into the British Museum; but such does not appear to have 
been the case. 
Many of the older writers gave a very false account of the habits of the Great Ant- 
eater, describing it as a fierce beast, a match for the Jaguar, and a source of dread to 
the Indians. The observations of Azara and Rengger, and of later travellers, prove this 
to be quite false, the animal being singularly peaceful and harmless, although it 
certainly attempts to defend itself in danger in the manner mentioned by Frantzius *. 
Its manner of feeding is well described by Dampier in the following passage :— 
“The Ant-Bear is a four-footed Beast, as big as a pretty large Dog; with rough 
black-brown Hair: It has short Legs; a long Nose and little Eyes; a very little Mouth, 
and a slender Tongue like an Earthworm about five or six Inches long, This Creature 
feeds on Ants; therefore you always find them near an Ants Nest or Path. It takes its 
Food thus. It lays its Nose down flat on the Ground, close by the Path that the Ants 
travel in, (whereof there are many in this country) and then puts out his Tongue athwart 
the Path: the Ants passing forwards and backwards continually, when they come to the 
Tongue make a stop, and in two or three Minutes time it will be covered all over with 
Ants; which she perceiving draws in her Tongue, and then eats them; and afterwards 
puts it out again to trapan more. ‘They smell very strong of Ants, and taste much 
stronger; for I have eaten of them. I have met with these creatures in several places 
of America, as well as here; (é.¢. in the Samballoes) and in the South-Seas, on the 
Mexican continent” fF. 
2. Myrmecophaga tetradactyla. 
Myrmecophaga tetradactyla, Linnzus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 52 (1766, ex Brisson)’; Frantzius, Arch. f. 
Naturg. xxxv. 1, p. 307”. 
Tamandua tetradactyla, Salvin, P. Z. 8. 1861, p. 287°; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 546, pl. xl. * 
Tejon, Oso colmenero of Costa-Ricans’*. 
Hab. Mexico (Liebmann, Mus. Hafn.); Guatemaua, Duefias (Salvin, Mus. Brit.*) ; 
Costa Rica (Frantzius?), Punta Arenas (Salvin), Nicoya (Arcé, Mus. Brit.).—Sovrn 
AMERICA to Paraguay. 
The range of the Tamandua Anteater appears to extend further north than that of the 
last species ; for there is a specimen in the Copenhagen Museum which was obtained by 
the late Professor Liebmann in some part of Mexico, probably in Oaxaca; but the exact 
* Cf. Bates, ‘ Naturalist on the Amazons,’ i. p. 177. + Dampier’s Voyages, ii. 2, pp. 60, 61. 
