ORDER EDENTATA: EDENTATES 183 



"Night hunting and the use of wire snares are the main causes of 

 depletion. Their meat is considered one of the greatest delicacies." 

 (Assistant Conservator of Forests, Gold Coast, in litt., July 22, 

 1937.) 



Nigeria. The species is reported from Nigeria, but without a 

 definite locality record (Rosevear, 1937, p. 13) . 



French Cameroons. It occurs in the forest region and is absolutely 

 protected except under scientific permit (Paris Agency, in litt., 

 November, 1936). 



Gabun. The Giant Pangolin is confined to the great forest. Only 

 a skin has come under personal observation. It was, however, 

 abundant at Mimongo in the region of Akelai. (A. R. Maclatchy, 

 in litt., February 5, 1937.) 



Ubangi-Shari district, French Equatorial Africa. It appears to 

 be localized in the forested region. It is not threatened, and has 

 been totally protected since 1929. (L. Blancou, in litt., December, 

 1936.) 



Belgian Congo. Schubotz (1912, p. 356) records a specimen from 

 Angu, on the Uele River. 



Lang (in Bequaert, 1922, p. 320) says of the several local species 

 of pangolins: 



"The signs of their fossorial practice are as often a cause of their 

 discovery as is the strong odor they emit, and dogs of native hunters 

 never fail to challenge their presence. Various highly valued talis- 

 mans, which their captors obtain from the claws, scales, hairs, and 

 other parts of some of the scaly ant-eaters, suffice to make them an 

 always welcome prize and their meat is an additional incentive for 

 their destruction." 



Lang also describes (p. 325) a Pygmy method of capturing the 

 present species: "Pygmy boys, with one end of a strand of rattan 

 fastened to the waist and the other held by friends waiting outside, 

 entered the burrows without hesitation .... These boys, armed 

 only with a knife, merely fastened the rattan around the live pan- 

 golin, which they prodded from behind while their companions 

 pulled it out of the hole. These otherwise harmless beasts, when 

 touched while rolled up, suddenly switch their tail sidewise with such 

 force that, if one's hand is caught between the rough body scales 

 and the tail, it is seriously mutilated by the shearing action." 



Lang records (p. 325) specimens from Bafuka, Niangara, Poko, 

 and Niapu in northeastern Belgian Congo. 



"The only specimen I was ever able to obtain was dug out for 

 me by natives, with the expenditure of much labor and time, on the 

 Semliki side of the forest" (Christy, 1924, p. 228). 



Schouteden states (1930, p. [95]) that the species ranges from 



