THE AARD-VARK. 207 



like at its apex ; the mouth small, and the tongue exten- 

 sible ; the eyes are rather small ; the ears large, long, 

 and pointed ; the tail tapering from a very stout base ; 

 the limbs are short, thick, and very muscular ; the fore- 

 feet have four stout toes armed with large solid nails, 

 resembling hoofs in appearance, and admirably adapted 

 as scrapers of the dry hard ground of an African desert. 

 The hind-feet are long and plantigrade, having five toes 

 armed with nails of the same character as those of the 

 fore-feet. (Fig. 136.) 



The teeth consist of seven molars on each side above, of 

 which the first is minute and distinct from the rest, and 

 six on each side below. Fig. 137 gives the teeth of the 

 upper jaw in two views; Fig. 138, those of the lower 

 jaw ; Fig. 139, the teeth of both jaws together. 



The aard-vark attains to a considerable size, measuring, 

 when fully grown, upwards of five feet in total length, 

 of which the tail is one foot eight or nine inches. Its 

 food consists exclusively of ants, which it takes by means 

 of its long glutinous tongue, after effecting a breach in 

 the dome-like houses of solid indurated mud-work which 

 those insects construct, and which are very abundant in 

 certain districts. These hillocks are from two to three 

 feet high, and their structure is irregularly cellular, not 

 unlike volcanic honeycomb-stone, exhibiting a maze of 

 passages opening into each other. In demolishing these 

 buildings for the sake of their multitudinous inmates, 

 which are devoured by wholesale, the aard-vark employs 

 the active portion of its existence. The dwelling of the 

 aard-vark itself is a burrow at a little distance beneath 

 the surface of the ground, out of which it comes forth 

 only during the night, for in its habits it is entirely 

 nocturnal ; hence during the day it is seldom seen, but 

 may be observed as the dusk approaches creeping from 

 its hole intent upon its prey. These burrows, where 

 numerous (as they are in some districts, where also in- 

 numerable ant-hills cover the plain), are dangerous to 

 waggons travelling over the country; and cattle and 

 horses occasionally break through the surface of the 

 ground into them, and thus suddenly stumble or fall. 



