BRITISH GUIANA (II) 321 
feeding habits. It probably eats wasp grubs and a variety of other 
insects in the wild state. 
Unlike the two larger species, the Pygmy Ant-eater is very 
difficult to keep in captivity as it rarely feeds, no matter what it is 
offered, and soon pines away. This is a pity as it certainly ranks 
high in the list of nature’s oddities. The other ant-eaters thrive in 
captivity on a diet of minced meat mixed with milk to which may 
be added a raw egg, and a little grass-meal as roughage. 
Guiana possesses two species of the Mustelidae—that is, the 
family of carnivores that includes weasels and martens, etc. They 
are the grison and the tayra. The former is endowed with a color 
scheme unusual in mammals, having the upper parts much 
lighter than the lower, these being light gray and black respec- 
tively. The only other mammal with a similar pattern that comes 
to mind is the ratel or Honey Badger of Africa and India, which 
curiously enough belongs to the same family as the grison and 
has similar habits. 
The normal tayra is very marten-like in form and coloration, 
but in Guiana a cream-colored mutation occurs occasionally. 
Probably not more than two or three had come to light in this 
territory in the previous twenty years, so I was fortunate in being 
presented with one by a settler in the interior. It was the first 
to be introduced to England alive. Like many other small carni- 
vores, such as civets, palm-civets, genets, ferret-badgers, etc., the 
tayra is fond of fruit as well as meat. 
One of my most amusing pets was a Crab-eating Raccoon that I 
brought up from the baby stage. It was ruddy-brown in color with 
black rings round the eyes and tail. Like its cousin the coati, it is 
related to the pandas and bears. Its popular name, crab-eating, 
derived from cancrivorus, its scientific name, is rather misleading, 
for it is in fact omnivorous—devouring such things as insects, 
fruit, eggs, frogs, birds, and small mammals, etc. When land- 
crabs are available they are, of course, devoured with equal relish. 
This raccoon has rather bare forelegs and long flat forefeet 
which are very sensitive. These are used extensively for locating 
food (especially frogs and crabs) by sliding them under stones, 
and in fact it seems to locate and recognize most of its live food 
by touch rather than by sight or smell. 
