576 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



evening it quits this hiding-place and begins to move about, advancing 

 either by leaps, or else with an unsteady gait, walking nearly always on 

 the extremities of its digits. Whatever may have been written here- 

 tofore by naturalists, the orycteropus is in fact digitigrade rather than 

 plantigrade. When the animal is walking the head is inclined, the 

 snout nearly touching the ground, the ears laid half-way back, and the 

 tail trailing. From time to time the animal stops to listen : it is guided 

 principally by hearing and smell, and by the same means contrives to es- 

 cape from its enemies. On finding a path that has been traveled over 

 by ants or termites, it follows it up to the ant-hill ; having reached the 

 latter, it attacks the structure with its paws, making the dust fly all 

 around, and digging rapidly till it comes to the center, or at least to 

 one of the principal streets. Then, alternately exserting and retracting 

 its viscous tongue, it devours the ants by the thousands. Having made 

 an end of one nest it attacks another, and so on till its hunger is ap- 

 peased. When we consider the alarming rate at which ants and ter- 

 mites multiply, and the damage they cause, we must recognize in the 

 orycteropus one of the most efficient of man's auxiliaries in tropical 

 regions. 



The orycteropi are extremely timid : at the slightest noise they try 

 to get underground. If they find no suitable hole or crevice, then 

 they quickly dig for themselves a hiding-place. The late J. Ver- 

 reaux, who had many a time observed orycteropi at the Cape, has told 

 me of how, having once seized by the tail one of them when it had 

 got but half of its body underground, he could not get the animal out 

 except by having the ground dug to a considerable depth. In eastern 

 Africa the negroes, approaching cautiously, kill the orycteropus by a 

 sudden thrust of a lance before it has time to disappear. In Senegal, 

 on the other hand, the animal is caught in iron traps, or hunted with 

 dogs by night. The skin of the animal is thick, and makes good, strong 

 leather. The flesh is by some travelers described as juicy, with a taste 

 like that of pork ; according to others it is disgusting, being strongly 

 impregnated with ant-odor. LevaiUant could never bring himself to eat 

 of it. 



In captivity the orycteropus seems stupid, passing most of the day 

 in sleep, rolled up into a shapeless mass. The individual at the Jardin 

 des Plantes, since winter came in, never quits its nest till about five or 

 six o'clock in the evening. Then it begins to roam about its quar- 

 ters, returning constantly to the stove, where it warms itself with evi- 

 dent pleasure while it squats on its hind legs and keeps its snout 

 steadily pointed at the fire. 



