188 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



the brush know how much such prohibition would be worth. (A. R. 

 Maclatchy, in litt., February 5, 1937.) 



French Equatorial Africa. Matschie (1894a, p. 6) records the 

 species from Loango. 



It is common almost everywhere in the Ubangi-Shari district. 

 It has been totally protected since 1929, and is not threatened. (L. 

 Blancou, in litt., December, 1936.) 



Angola. Monard (1935, p. 185) quotes Bocage to the effect that 

 this pangolin is rather common at Bembe and Malange; he also 

 gives records for Bimbi and Cazengo. 



Belgian Congo. Schwarz (19206, p. 1061) records specimens 

 from Libenge on the Ubangi, Panga on the Aruwimi, Angu on 

 the Uele, and Avakubi on the Ituri; also from Kudurma and Ka- 

 bayendi in the Niam-Niam country (not far from the Congo-Sudan 

 boundary) . 



Lang (in Bequaert, 1922, pp. 320-323) remarks that tricuspis 

 is the commonest of the African pangolins. "Being timid, they 

 readily make use of their natural safeguard and, when even slightly 

 annoyed, roll up in a ball .... When forcibly unrolled, they 

 may succeed in driving off their tormentors by well directed jets of 

 an ill-smelling, acrid liquid from the anal region; native dogs suffer 

 for a considerable time from the effect of this substance, which 

 greatly irritates their mucous membranes. . . . 



"If unmolested and placed near their favored prey, they uncoil 

 readily .... One soon realizes how thoroughly they are special- 

 ized as ant-eaters, for their methods of attack and disposal of ants 

 are as effective as their ways of guarding themselves against the 

 defensive means of their prey. In the regions we visited, the pan- 

 golins preferred true ants, as stomach contents clearly showed, 

 though many of our captives would plunder termitaria with great 

 eagerness. . . . 



"One taken near a column of army ants (Dorylus) merely made 

 good its escape, another quickly broke up the well-ordered line. 

 . . . Lashing its sticky tongue through the confused crowds, the 

 ant-eater lost no time in moving back and forth along the ant 

 column as quickly as the dense clusters vanished into its mouth. 

 Its hunger satisfied, it at once retreated, freeing itself of the few 

 army ants that had managed to dig their mandibles into the soft 

 parts of its hide. M. tricuspis fed freely on many other kinds of 

 ants. Those we had alive at Avakubi, Medje, and Niapu were 

 particularly fond of ants of the genus Myrmicaria. . . . 



"African pangolins have helped to enrich the stores of witchcraft." 



Hatt (19346, p. 645) records 66 specimens from Akenge, Avakubi, 

 Faradje, Gamangui, Medje, Ngayu, Niangara, Niapu, Poko, and 

 Stanleyville. 



