THE LITTLE ANT-EATER. 213 



A young specimen before us measures nineteen inches in 

 the body, and thirteen in the tail ; its colour on the 

 head and fore-quarters is yellowish white ; the sides of 

 the body, the haunches, and the under surface, together 

 with the base of the tail, being black, and a black stripe 

 passes along each shoulder. 



M. Geoff'roy regards as distinct species one altogether 

 black, which he terms T. nigra, and another with a 

 double shoulder-stripe, which he has named T. hivittata. 

 They are, however, most probably only varieties ; at 

 least Cuvier states, in his ' Ossemens Fossiles,' that, 

 however these animals may vary in colour, they present 

 no difference in their proportions, nor in the details of 

 their skeletons, though he has rigidly compared them 

 together. Azara tells us that he once found dead a ca- 

 gouare thirty-seven inches and three-quarters long, which 

 was of an universal yellowish white ; whence he con- 

 cludes that the perfect livery is not gained until the 

 second year. The young are of an universal pale cin- 

 namon colour. 



In its manners the tamandua agrees with the 

 tamanoir, with this difference, that it often climbs trees, 

 aiding itself by its prehensile tail, which, however, is 

 much inferior as a prehensile organ to that of the little 

 two-toed ant-eater, and its claws are also less calculated 

 for arboreal habits. Azara suspects that it feeds much 

 upon honey and bees, which, he adds, are here (in 

 Paraguay) destitute of stings, and take up their abode 

 in trees. When reposing, the tamandua doubles its 

 head on its chest, lies on its belly, places its fore-limbs 

 along its sides and its tail over its body. It smells 

 strongly of musk, and the odour, when the animal is irri- 

 tated, is very disagreeable, and may be perceived at a 

 great distance. The female produces one at a birth ; it 

 is, says Azara, very ugly, and is carried by the mother 

 on her shoulders. 



The Little Ant-eater 



(^Myrmecophaga didactyla, Linn.). 

 The distinguishing characters of this species consist 



