200 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



however contains a young anteater modelled by him 

 (seen at the bottom of the illustration) and presented 

 to the Museum in i860; by careful scrutiny of the 

 photograph one can compare the results of the two 

 styles side by side. It will probably be admitted 

 that after all up-to-date mounting, though by the 

 older method, gives results at least equal to those of 

 Waterton. 



The great anteater or tamanoir [Myrmecophaga 

 jubata) — tamandud bandeira and tamandud assu of 

 the Brazilians, yurumi of the Paraguayans — stands 

 about two feet high at the shoulder, and measures 

 about seven feet in extreme length. The head is 

 small and strangely bird-like, being prolonged into a 

 slender beak bearing the mouth at the extremity. 

 The oral aperture is very small, barely admitting 

 the finger, and the long purplish tongue flickers in 

 and out of it like the tongue of a snake ; os angus- 

 tahim in rostriini, as Linnaeus observed. The eyes 

 of the anteater are relatively minute, and the neatly 

 rounded ears are also small. The body is sturdy, 

 somewhat compressed, and supported on stout and 

 shortish legs. The claws are powerful and strongly 

 curved; the animal walks on the outer edge of the fore- 

 foot, thus preserving their points.^ The soles of the 

 hind feet are flesh-coloured, like those of a bear. A 

 mane runs along the back and merges into the 



1 " Poor tliin<T " said one {jood voman on viewinff the incurved claws 

 of tlie first anteater exhibited at the Zoo "see how he is cramped by 

 being kept so long aboard ship ! " 



