ANT-EATEBS. 



(April 26, 1890.) 



THE ant-eaters, including not only the true ant- 

 eaters (Myrmecopliagidce) , all of them inhabitants 

 of tropical America, but also the aard-varks, or ant- 

 bears (Orycteropodidce), which are found only in 

 Africa, belong to the order Edentata an order 

 which has obtained its name from the fact that its 

 members either lack teeth altogether, or at the best 

 have but an incomplete dentition. This order is 

 made up of several families widely different in 

 appearance and habits, containing as it does the 

 Sloths, the Ant-Eaters, and the Armadillos, natives 

 of the New World, and the Pangolins and Aard- 

 varks, of the Old. 



The ant-eaters, both of the Old and New Worlds, 

 are now, as indeed has long been the case, repre- 

 sented at the Zoo, and it is perhaps curious that they 

 attract but little attention from the large number 

 of visitors that constantly pass through their house, 

 not one in ten of whom cast even a glance in the 

 direction of their cages. No doubt the superior 

 attractions of their neighbours, the anthropoid apes, 

 and especially of " Sally," are quite sufficient to 



