ANT-EATER ANTANACLASIS. 



187 



qulshers. Another exceedingly curious fact, in 

 relation to ants, is the subserviency of the little in- 

 sects, called aphides or vine-fretters, to their necessi- 

 ties. The aphides are remarkable for ejecting from 

 little prominences on the posterior part ot their 

 bodies, a small drop of limpid and sweet-tasted fluid. 

 Not only do the ants profit by this when it is found 

 on the leaves, but they know how to obtain it from 

 l lie aphides at will. An ant approaches the aphis, 

 and begins very gently to touch it with his antenna 

 over the sides and back, as if caressing it. In a very 

 short time, the aphis raises its hinder limbs slightly, 

 smd from the orifices on its back a small, clear drop 

 exudes, which is greedily drunk up by the ant, who 

 repeats the same treatment to several, until his hun- 

 ger is entirely sated. These aphides have been 

 appropriately called the cows of the ants, which, in 

 feet, seem to regard them as their peculiar property, 

 not only taking great care of them, but fighting for 

 their possession. So fully sensible are they of their 

 great value, that they carry the eggs of the aphides 

 into their nests, where they take care of them till they 

 are hatched. Some species of ants keep their aph- 

 ides altogether under ground, or at least during bad 

 seasons, where they feed on the roots of plants ; 

 others build with clay small galleries from the ant- 

 hills up trees, and even to the branches, upon which 

 the aphides abound. Male and female ants survive, 

 at most, till autumn, or to the commencement of 

 cool weather, though a very large proportion of them 

 cease to exist long previous to that time. The neu- 

 ters pass the winter in a state of torpor, and of course 

 require no food. This well-ascertained fact proves 

 that their remarkable foresight has no other object 

 than the continuance of the species by perfecting and 

 securing their habitations. The only time when they 

 require food is during the season of activity, when 

 they have a vast number of young to feed. It would 

 he well for mankind if ants derived all their nourish- 

 ment from the aphides, or from the dead bodies of 

 other insects, small birds, &c. Unfortunately, they 

 are but too celebrated, in most countries, for their 

 destructive operations among the grain, in gardens, 

 pantries, and conservatories. Their Tarves andnymphs 

 are, in some parts of the world, collected for the 

 purpose of feeding pheasants and young turkeys, but 

 we know of no other economic use, to which they 

 are particularly applicable. The bodies of small 

 animals, skinned, and secured near an ant-hill, are 

 soon converted into very neatly-cleaned skeletons ; 

 but care must be taken to prevent them from being 

 carried off by larger animals, or from remaining too 

 long exposed to the weather after liaving been strip- 

 ped by the ants of their flesh. 



ANT-EATER (myrmecophaga, L.) ; a genus of mam- 

 mtferous quadrupeds, of the order edentata, C. This 

 peculiar race of animals is only found in the southern 

 part of the American continent, where they aid in 

 diminishing the numbers of immense hordes of ants, 

 which desolate the country in the vicinity of their 

 dwellings. F.very particular of their construction 

 renders the ant-eaters especially fit for the duty they 

 perform. The whole head is remarkably elongated, 

 and destitute of teeth, but furnished with a very 

 narrow, long, smooth tongue, by the aid of which 

 they gather their prey. Their limbs, especially the 

 anterior, are very robust, and furnished with long, 

 compressed, acute nails, admirably adapted for break- 

 ing into the hillocks containing their appropriate 

 food. The most remarkable of the species, whose 

 habits are best known, is the myrmecophaga jitbata. 

 or great ant-eater, sometimes called ant-bear. The 

 great ant-eater is four or five feet long, exclusive of 

 the tail, which is .about three. The head and an- 

 terior extremities are .covered with a brownish hair, 



which is mixed with white on the trunk and tail, 

 though the predominant colour is brown. On each 

 side of the shoulders there is a black band between 

 two white ones, which ascend towards the middle of 

 the back, where the hair is elongated to a sort of 

 mane, which increases in length and thickness to- 

 wards the base of -the tail. The hair is flat at the end, 

 and round for the rest of its length, somewhat re- 

 sembling the hair of the deer. The fore feet have 

 five digits, with very strong claws ; the hind feet, 

 four: there are two pectoral mammae. The great 

 ant-eater leads a harmless and solitary life, but is 

 not so incapable of self-defence as might be infer- 

 red from its exceedingly small mouth and entire 

 want of teeth. When irritated, it erects its long, 

 brush-like tail, and waves it in the air, and, when 

 attacked by a dog or other small quadruped, either 

 seizes and compresses it to suffocation between its 

 powerful fore legs, or, sitting on its hinder limbs, 

 strikes destructive blows with its strong, sharp claws. 

 To man, however, they offer very little resistance, 

 being easily killed by blows on the head. In feed- 

 ing, the great ant-eater either thrusts his long, nar- 

 row tongue, covered with a glutinous fluid, into the 

 ant-heap, whence he withdraws it covered with the 

 insects ; or else, having partially demolished the hill 

 by means of his fore limbs, he, witli wonderful cele- 

 rity, transfers the alarmed inhabitants to his stomach, 

 by repeated extensions and retractions of his tongue, 

 which operation the animal is stated, by observers, to 

 effect twice in a second. The savages and negro 

 slaves hunt the great ant-eater for the sake of its 

 skin and flesh, which the negroes esteem highly. 

 This species may be domesticated, and then feeds 

 upon small pieces of bread or meat, and various in- 

 sects. Two other species have been long known, 

 both of which have naked, scaly and prehensile tails. 

 These are the three-toed ant-eater, mynnecophaga 

 tamandua, C. ; tridactyla, L. ; and the two -toed 

 ant-eater, myrmecophaga diilactyla, L. These, as 

 might be inferred from their size (the first twenty- 

 five inches, with a tail sixteen inches long; the 

 second seven or eight inches long, with a tail of 

 eight or nine inches), and the prehensile character 

 of their tails, are adapted for climbing trees and 

 preying upon ants which make their nests in such 

 situations. The two-toed ant-eater brings forth but 

 a single young one at a birth, on a bed of leaves 

 prepared in a hollow tree. Krusenstern, in the nar- 

 rative of his voyage, describes a species which 

 grunted somewhat lute a hog, had a tail shorter than 

 the body, was of a white colour, with twelve blackish 

 bands. The name of myrmecophaga unnulatus has 

 been given to this by Desmarest. All the ant eaters 

 are slow in their movements, and the two smaller 

 species are especially helpless when on the ground, 

 though they defend themselves bravely when attack- 

 ed. In order to use their defensive fore claws to 

 greater advantage, they sit upon their hinder limbs 

 like the bear, and strike with great force. 



ANT.EUS ; the giant son of Neptune and of the 

 Earth, who lived in a cave in Lybia, and forced 

 every stranger who arrived to fight with him. When- 

 ever he was thrown to the earth, his strength was 

 restored by his mother. By this means, he succeeded 

 in killing his antagonists, and planted their skulls 

 round his dwelling. But Hercules, whom he chal- 

 lenged to combat, perceiving the secret of his 

 strength, grasped him in his arms, and stifled him 

 suspended in the air. 



ANTAGONIST MUSCLES ; those muscles which have 

 opposite functions, as flexors and extensors, abduc- 

 tors and adductors. 



ANTANACLASIS (Greek ; from avravajeXaa/, I drive 

 back) ; the repetition of a word in a diffmnt mean*- 



