CHAPTER XXXVI 



Toothless Ant-Eaters 



Now let ns look al a most curious group of animals, which are 

 called Edentates, — /. e., "toothless," — from the fact that they 

 possess no front teeth. 

 The Long-tailed Manis.^One of these mail-covered animals 

 is the long-tailed manis, of Africa, which is covered with a nuniher 

 of sharply-pointed horny plates, which almost exactly resemble the 

 scale armor of olden times. These plates overlap one another just 

 like the slates upon the roof of a house, and lie with their points 



^ ^-^J^^ilP^^!'^ 



LONG-TAILED MAMS 



directed towards the tail, each projecting for some little distance 

 over those beneath it. Unlike the scale armor, they can be used as 

 weapons of ofifense as well as defense, for, if menaced by a powerful 

 foe, the manis rolls himself into a ball, just like the hedgehog, so 

 that the sharp and keen-edged jilates project from the body, and 

 severely wound any animal which is foolish enough to meddle with 

 them. Indeed, when thus rolled up, the manis is safe from the attacks 



(26a) 



