212 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



otherwise, save for the absence of a hairy 

 covering, there is no striking difference between 

 the external characters of the young and those 

 of their seniors. A very young example is 

 preserved in the Royal College of Surgeons' 

 Museum. 



The first specimen seen in Europe appears 

 to have been the skin (accompanied by a sketch 

 of the living animal) sent over by Col. Gordon : 

 while in 1812 another individual was exhibited 

 stuffed at Bullock's Museum (now the Egyptian 

 Hall, Piccadilly). Probably one of the oldest 

 examples now in preservation is that brought 

 home in 1814 by Dr. Burchell. 1 It is exhibited 

 in the Mammal Gallery of the Natural History 

 Museum, at South Kensington, and does not 

 seem to have deteriorated much in spite of its 

 great post mortem age : it is badly stuffed, 

 however, for the taxidermist has not reproduced 

 the arching of the back, so characteristic of the 

 Orycteropodidae? Since Burchell's day the Cape 

 ant-bear has been briefly noticed by many writers 

 Moodie, Smith, Harris, and a host of others 

 but on account of its nocturnal habits is even 

 yet but little known. Apparently, however, the 

 animal is still abundant, as travellers have reported 



1 This specimen will be found figured in the Rev. J. G. Wood's 

 "Illustrated Natural History." 



2 Burchell's specimen is probably a young adult, judging from the 

 fairly thick coat of blackish brown hair : in old animals the coat 

 becomes scanty. 



