Mr. A. Adams on the Scaly Ant-eater. 1 49 



quills in the orchards. The Manis javanica is sold in the markets 

 at Canton, and is often carried about the streets as a curiosity. The 

 scales are employed by the Chinese for medicinal purposes ; but the 

 flesh does not appear to be eaten, though it is very excellent food 

 when roasted, as I can testify from personal experience, having had 

 a portion of the defunct " Scales " nicely cooked. The Manis 

 climbs very well, and can suspend itself head downwards by means 

 of its strong flat tail. We fed our " Scaly Hill-borers " on raw 

 eggs and chopped raw beef, on which they seemed to thrive. The 

 unfortunate " Scales " fell a victim to female curiosity. Exploring 

 the hold of the ship in one of her midnight rambles, she was lost for 

 a time, and at length found her way back to her box, where she died 

 of starvation. 



B. After Death. 



Our specimen was an adult female, weighing 4 Ibs. The length 

 from the end of the nose to the root of the tail was 14^ inches, of 

 the head 3 inches, and of tail 10| ; extreme length 2 feet 1 inch. 



Head. The eye is protuberant, and the cornea remarkably convex; 

 the vision is lateral ; the eyelids are pyriform, the pointed end for- 

 ward, the upper lid well-rounded ; the iris is brown, with a tinge of 

 green. The nostrils and lips are fleshy, naked, and, when the animal 

 is alive, constantly moistened by a mucous secretion. The ears are 

 naked and open. The tongue (used as a feeler during life) is 9 inches 

 in length, and is enclosed in a membranous sheath ; it is highly re- 

 tractile and muscular, subcylindrical at the base, flattened at the an- 

 terior half, grooved on the upper surface, and beset with prominent 

 papillae. At the hinder end of the groove, arranged in the form of 

 an equilateral triangle, are three pores which secrete a viscid fluid. 

 The epiglottis is broad and hood-like ; the thyroid glands are 

 2^- inches in length and 1^ in width : they are very large, ovate, and 

 pointed at each end. 



Thorax. The mammary glands are large, pectoral, two in number, 

 and well developed. The lungs are composed of three lobes on the 

 right, and two on the left side ; the middle lobe very small ; the 

 lower lobe furnished with a process which embraces the base of the 

 heart. The heart is central, large, and oval ; the auricles very di- 

 stinct ; the ventricles thick and fleshy ; the columnse carnese and 

 chorda tendinea very strong ; the vena cava very large. The liver 

 is large and five-lobe'd ; the upper lobe is large, the middle is notched 

 in front, irregular and trilobate ; the left lateral is rounded, with a 

 thin edge ; the right lateral is subcylindrical and truncate below. 

 The gall-bladder is large, and placed between the upper central and 

 right lateral lobes of the liver. The pancreas is of loose texture, 

 transversely elongated, flattened and pointed, obliquely truncate at 

 one end, angular and pointed at the other ; coiled up, imbedded in 

 a sac on the outer surface of the truncate extremity, was a small 

 slender worm. 



The omentum is thin and membranous, with no fat ; the mesen- 

 tery is membranous and transparent, the vessels conspicuous, and 

 the glands large, brown, and flattened. 



