598 



EDENTATES 



xxii. 6 



have maintained their appearance for more than a few hundreds or at 

 the most thousands of years. 



The ant-eaters (Myrmecophagidae) have a characteristic elongated 

 snout, without teeth. There are three genera, differing in size, and 



20 



30 40 50 70 90 



Cranium Length Logarithmic scale mm. 



1Z0 160 



Scale for A\ 



Fig. 378. Logarithmic plots of lengths of maxillae (a's) and nasals (u's) 



against cranium. 

 The suffixes represent: 1, Myrmecophaga; 2, Tamandua; 3, Cyclopes. Scale for B graphs 

 is shifted to the right compared with a's. Crosses at bottom of lines for A 2 and B, 

 represent a very young Tamandua. The lines were fitted to each sample by least squares. 



(From Reeve.) 



the larger species have relatively much the longer snouts. The great 

 ant-eater Myrmecophaga (Fig. 374) has an enormously elongated 

 face, but this is much shorter in the smaller Tamandua (Fig. 375), and 

 the very small tree-living Cyclopes (Fig. 376) has a head of normal 

 mammalian shape. Analysis shows that there is little difference be- 



