210 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



careful protection from the muggy climate of 

 Europe : whilst the task of providing proper 

 food for them, especially on the voyage, is a 

 tax on the ingenuity of the most accomplished 

 naturalist. The American species consist of the 

 great anteater ( Myrmecophaga jubata), the tam- 

 andua anteater ( ' Tamandua tetradactyla), and the 

 two- toed anteater (Cycloturus didactylus). We 

 also include in this category the African ant- 

 bears, for although not closely related to the 

 American forms, they are equally difficult to 

 bring over and to maintain in confinement after 

 arrival. The African anteaters consist of two 

 forms : the Ethiopian ant-bear (Orycteropus aethi- 

 opicus) and the Cape ant-bear (O. afra), known 

 to the Dutch as the Aard Vark. 



The Aard Vark goup of the Namaquas 

 takadu of the Basutos isambane of the Swazis 

 and Zulus measures from five and a half to 

 six feet from the tip of the snout to the tip of 

 the two foot tail, and stands one foot two inches 

 at the shoulder, 1 being about the size of a large 

 pig. The elongated head ends in a swine-like snout : 

 the ears are large and naked : the tapering tongue 

 can be protruded several inches from the mouth, 

 is worm-like and covered with viscid saliva. 

 The neck of the aard vark is very short : the 



l As no shoulder measurements of the aard vark have hitherto 

 been published, the above is taken from the mounted example in the 

 Manchester Museum. 



