HIGH SCHOOL ZOOLOGY. 



1G3 



19. When we finally study the group of the higher mammals 

 or Eutheria, we find a wondei'ful diversity of form in the differ- 

 ent orders, depending on their habits and methods of locomotion. 

 Certain aberrant orders may fii'st be referred to, which occupy a 

 somewhat isolated position in the sub-class. Of these the 

 Bruta or Edentata is a very heterogeneous order, embracing tlu- 

 ant-eaters of the Old and New Worlds, and the sloths of Soutli 

 America, The former differ very much in the clothing of the 

 skin, for in the Indian genus Manis (Fig. 109), it is formed of 

 large overlapping horny scales, while in the South American 

 Jli/rmecophaga, coarse hair replaces these. Both genera have a 

 long snout and a long protrusible tongue by means of which 

 (and the secretion of the large salivarv glands) they secure their 



Fij^'. 109. Scaly Aut-Eater or I'antjolia. (Mania longicaudata). /j 



food. The Brazilian armadillos (Daayjms) and some other 

 South American allied forms have the skin of the back and 

 sides converted into a more or less complete shield of bony 

 plates, while the African Orycteropus is clothed with coarse 

 hair. Unlike the Carnivores, the teeth, if they are present at all, 

 are all alike, often very numerous, and there is only one set. 



20. Contrasting with these forms which have all strong 

 burrowing feet are the sloths, in which the claws are curved in 

 such a way as to be only useful for an arboreal life. The teeth 

 ai-e less numerous than in the insect-eating armadillos, and their 

 surfaces are flat and not tuberculate ; the toes in accordance 



