1404 



THE EDENTA TES 



is very short, the fore-quarters are short compared with the hinder part of the body, 

 and the back is much arched. The tongue is long and extensile, although not so 

 completely worm-like as that of the pangolins, and the round nostrils are situated 

 at the extremity of the truncated muzzle. The fore-limbs are rather short, but very 

 powerful; they have four toes, with moderate-sized, strong nails; and, in walking, 

 the entire sole of the foot is applied to the ground. The hind-feet have five toes of 

 nearly equal size, each carrying a nail. The skin is of remarkable thickness; its 

 general color being yellowish brown, with a tinge of red on the back and sides, 

 while the head and under parts are light reddish yellow; and the hind-quarters, the 

 root of the tail, and the limbs brown. A full-grown aard-vark measures a little 

 over six feet in total length. 



THE ETHIOPIAN AARD-VARK. 



(From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1876.) 



The jaws are furnished with a considerable number of well-developed teeth, ^of 

 which all but the last three in each jaw have milk predecessors, which do not, how- 

 ever, cut the gum. In full-grown specimens there are usually five teeth on each 

 side of both upper and lower jaws; but the total number of teeth developed is from 

 eight to ten in the upper, and eight in the lower jaw; the anterior ones falling out 

 as the animal attains maturity. When unworn, these teeth, which are of consider- 

 able size, have rounded summits. They are composed of a number of closely-packed 

 denticles, which by mutual pressure assume a polygonal form , and are traversed by 

 a series of radiating tubes; such a structure being unknown elsewhere in the whole 

 Mammalian class. The skull has a complete cheek arch, and the lower jaw is far 

 less slender than in the pangolins. It has been considered that the aard-varks are 

 nearly allied to the pangolins, but the result of more recent observations has been 



