vin TAMANDUA AND CYCLOTURUS 1 67 



Along their course these ducts are provided with a sphincter 

 muscle, which squeezes the secretion towards the external orifice 

 into the mouth-cavity. The stomach is somewhat gizzard-like. 

 The intestine has no caecum. 1 



The Anteater's great claws are not only serviceable in tearing 

 up the ground to get at its food ; armed with them he does not 

 fear, as Mr. AVaterton remarked, " the fatal pressure of the 

 serpent's fold or the teeth of the famished jaguar." An Anteater, 

 too, is more than a match for a big dog, and will rip open its 

 belly with the claws while the dog is vainly trying to make an 

 impression with its teeth upon the shaggy hair. 



Tamandua is a smaller animal than Myrmecophaga, and, as 

 has been stated, is arboreal ; associated with this habit is a pre- 

 hensile tail. Like the last genus, Tamandua has a rudimentary 

 clavicle, this bone being well developed in the little Cycloturus. 



The skull of the Anteater 2 is very long and low ; the fore- 

 part is tubular, and there appear to be no traces of teeth. The 



FIG. 92. Skull of Anteater (Myrmecopliaga). Lateral view, cd.sph, Alisphenoid ; coiul, 

 condyle of mandible ; cor, coronoid process of mandible ; ex.oc, exoccipital ; 

 ext.aud, external auditory meatus ; fr, frontal ; jit, jugal ; Icr, lachrymal ; max, 

 maxilla ; nas, nasal ; occ.cond, occipital condyle ; pal, palatine ; par, parietal ; 

 p.iiiax, premaxilla ; s.oc, supraoccipital ; sq, squamosal ; ty, tympanic. (From 

 Parker and Harwell's Zoology). 



premaxilla is very small ; the zygomatic arch is imperfect, and 

 does not reach the squamosal behind. A curious feature of this 

 genus, which it shares with some Dolphins and other Whales, is 

 that the pterygoid bones develop palatine plates which meet each 

 other in the middle line, and thus shift the opening of the 



1 See for anatomy Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. 1862, p. 117, and Forbes, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 287. 



2 For the skull of Edentates generally see Parker, Phil. Trans, clxxvi. 1885, 

 pt. i. p. 121. 



