NATURAL HISTORY. 



187 



Sub-family c. Myrmecophagind. 

 MYRMECOPHAGA. (Gr. ^vpjut]^, an Ant; 



to eat.) 



Jubata (Lat. crested), the Ant-eater, 



This curious animal inhabits Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay. 

 As its name imports, it lives principally upon ants and 

 termites, which it procures in precisely the same manner as 

 was related of the Manis. It short legs and long claws 

 would lead an observer to suppose that its pace was slow and 

 constrained. When chased, however, it runs off with a 

 peculiar trot, and with such rapidity, that it keeps a horse to 

 its speed to overtake it. Schomburgh relates that a tame 

 ANT-EATER, in his possession, by no means restricted itself to 

 ants, but devoured meat, when minced, with much avidity. 

 The same naturalist also discovered a Julus, or Millipede, in 

 the stomach of an ant-eater, which he dissected. The ordinary 

 length of this animal is about three feet seven inches, and its 

 height about three feet. 



