MANIS PENTADACTYLA. 315 



17 scales in each longitudinal line; 16 scales on the dorsal series in 10 

 or 1 1 rows ; middle nail of the fore-feet much stronger than the others. 

 Scales thick, striated at the base, pale yellowish -brown or horny clay-colour; 

 the lower side of the head, body, and feet nude, brownish- white ; nose 

 fleshy ; soles of the hind-feet blackish ; auricles indistinct. 



Length of one, head and body 26 inches; tail 18. A female measuring 

 40 inches weighed 21 Ib. 



The common Pangolin, or Scaly Ant-eater, is found throughout the 

 whole of India, most common perhaps in somewhat hilly districts, but no- 

 where abundant. It appears to extend into the lower Himalayas, for both 

 this and the next species were found by Hodgson in Nepal. It is strictly 

 nocturnal, and feeds almost exclusively on ants, especially the white ants 

 (termites). Its gait in walking is very peculiar, the back arched, the 

 fore-feet with their anterior surface bent over and brought into contact 

 with the ground, on which it progresses very slowly. Tickell has given 

 (Journ. As. Soc., xi. 221) a very good account of this animal, with 

 characteristic figures. 



Mr. Elliot says : " The Manis burrows in the ground in a slanting 

 direction to a depth of from 8 to 12 feet from the surface, at the end of 

 which is a large chamber about 6 feet in circumference, in which they live 

 in pairs, and where they may be found with one or two young ones about 

 the months of January, February, and March. They close up the entrance 

 of the burrow with earth when in it, so that it would be difficult to find 

 them but for the peculiar track they leave. A female I kept alive for 

 some time slept during the day, but was restless all night. It would not 

 eat the termites or white ants put into its box, nor even the large black 

 ants (Myrmica indefessa, Sykes), though its excrement was at first full 

 of them. But it would lap the water that was offered to it by rapidly dart- 

 ing out its long, extensile tongue, which it repeated so quickly as to fill 

 the water with froth. When first it came, it made a sort of hissing noise 

 if disturbed, and rolled itself up, the head between the fore-legs, and the 

 tail round the whole." 



The name of Bajar-kit means stone or hard reptile, from its scales. It 

 is popularly believed to eat stones, and these are sometimes found in its 

 stomach. Dr. Burt, in a paper in the 2nd vol. of the Asiatic Researches, 

 gravely propounds the question whether it cannot live entirely on mineral 

 substances. Its flesh is considered aphrodisiac by the natives ; and it is 

 much infested by a blue tick. 



