46 Ant-Eaters. 



obtaining its food is said to be as follows : Having 

 torn open an ant-Mil with its powerful claws, it 

 draws its enormously long flexible tongue,, which is 

 covered with a glutinous saliva, over the masses of 

 insects which rush out in defence of their home, 

 with the result that numbers of them adhere to it, 

 and are thus drawn into the animal's mouth ; and, 

 so quickly is this operation repeated, that we are 

 assured that the tongue is put out, and drawn in 

 again covered with insects, twice in a second. 

 Quaint Dr. Brookes describes the process as 

 follows : " He [the ant-eater] lives upon ants, and 

 when he has found out one of their nests, he opens 

 the upper part of it with his claws, that he may 

 have room to put in his snout and tongue. This is 

 besmeared with a slimy liquor and is soon covered 

 with ants, which, when he finds, he draws it into 

 his mouth and swallows them. He repeats this 

 practice as long as there are any remaining, or at 

 least as long as they will run into the same snare. 

 When he is hungry again, he will go in quest of 

 another nest." The tongue is a wonderful organ, 

 much longer than the head, round, and capable of 

 being projected sixteen or eighteen inches ; in 

 appearance it is very much like an enormous 

 worm; when at rest it is bent backwards in the 

 mouth, or, as Dr. Brookes has it, " he is obliged to 

 bend part of it back when he keeps it within his 

 mouth, for it is not long enough to hold it without 

 this artifice." When the animal at the Zoo is fed, 

 this curious tongue is most noticeable sweeping 



