PHATAGIN.—Manis tetraddctyla. 
formidable jaws, which are powerful enough to drive a human being almost distracted 
with pain. The claws are not only employed in destroying the nest of the termite, but in 
digging burrows for its own residence, a task for which they are well adapted by reason of 
their oreat size and strength, and the vigour of the limbs to which they are attached, As 
the limbs are short, and the claws very “long, the pace of the Phatagin is very slow, and 
its tardiness is increased by the fact that the claws of the fore-feet are folded upon a thick, 
fleshy pad, and are therefore not at all adapted for locomotion. 
The Phatagin is a native of Western Africa, and is of considerable dimensions, 
reaching five feet in average length, of which the tail occupies three feet. From the great 
length of the tail, it is sometimes called the LonG-ratLeD MANIS. 
The BAJJERKEIT, or SHORT-TAILED MANIS, is a native of various parts of India, and is 
also found in Ceylon. Of this species Sir Emerson Tennent gives the following short 
account. “Of the Edentates, the only example in Ceylon is the scaly ant-eater, called by 
the Singalese, Caballaya, but usually know 0 by its Malay name of Pengolin, a word 
indicative of its faculty of ‘rolling itself up’ into a compact ball, by bending its head 
towards its stomach, arching its back into a circle, and securing all by a powerful hold of 
its mail-covered tail, When at liberty, they burrow in the dry ground to a depth of seven 
or eight feet, where they reside in pairs, and produce annually two or three young. 
Of two specimens w hich I kept alive at different times, one from the vicinity of Kandy, 
about two feet in leneth, was a gentle and affectionate creature, which after wandering 
over the house in search of ants, would attract attention to its wants by climbing up my 
knee, laying hold of my leg by its prehensile tail. The other, more than double that 
length, was caught in the junele near Chilaw, and brought to me in Colombo. I had 
alw ays understood that the Pengolin was unable to climb trees, but the one last mentioned 
frequently ascended a tree in my garden in search of ants, and this it effected by means 
of its hooked feet, aided by an oblique erasp of the tail. The ants it seized by extending 
its round and glutinous tongue along their tracks. Generally speaking, they were quiet 
during the day, and grew restless as evening and night approached.” 
THE manis affords a curious example of scale-armour formed by nature, and a still 
more singular instance of natural plate-armour is found in the following little group of 
animals. 
The ARMADILLOS are inhabitants of Central and Southern America, and are tolerably 
common throughout the whole of the land in which they hve. The general structure of 
the armour is similar in all the species, and consists of three large plates of horny 
covering; one being placed on the head, another on the shoulders, and the third on the 
hind quarters. These plates are connected by a series of bony rings, variable in number, 
overlapping cach other, and permitting the animal to move freely. Each plate and band is 
