popular 23trtt'0narj) of gntmatrtr 



23 



alone ; but this circumstance has nothing 

 strange for those who are acquainted with 

 the tropical parts of America, and who have 

 seen the enormous multitudes of these in- 

 sects, which swarm in all parts of the country 

 to that degree, that their hills often almost 

 touch one another for miles together. The 

 favourite resort of the Great Ant-eaters are 

 the low swampy savannahs, along the banks 

 of rivers and stagnant ponds. 



The TAMANDUA ( Myrmecophaga ta- 

 mundua), a smaller kind of Ant-eater, is 

 about the size of a full-grown cat ; the head 

 not being so disproportionately long as the 

 species above described, though it is of the 

 same general cylindrical form, and equally 

 truncated at the end. The conformation of 

 the extremities, and the number of the toes 

 is in every respect the same as in the Great 

 Ant-eater ; but the tail is prehensile, which 

 makes it essentially an arboreal quadruped ; 

 while, instead of having long shaggy hair, it 

 is short, shining, and somewhat silky, like 

 the finest wool. There are several varieties 

 of this species, differing chiefly in colour ; 

 they reside exclusively on trees, living 

 on termites, honey, and (according to Azara, 

 in his Natural History of the Quadrupeds 

 of Paraguay), bees, which in those coun- 

 tries form their hives among the loftiest 

 branches of the forest, and, having no sting, 

 are readily despoiled of their honied treasure. 



The LITTLE ANT-EATER (Myrmeco- 

 phaga didact>/hi)\A an animal of considerable 

 elegance, and not larger than a squirrel : 

 the head is small, the snout sharpened and 

 slightly bent downwards ; the fore-feet have 

 only two claws on each, the exterior one 

 much larger and stronger than the interior ; 

 the ears are very small, and hid in the fur ; 

 the eyes are also small. The whole animal 



t.ITTLB AN1 



is covered with a beautiful soft and curled 

 fur of a pale yellow-brown colour : the tail 

 is thick at the base, tapering to the tip ; and 

 being prehensile, it greatly assists the Little 

 Ant-eater's operations in its search for in- 

 sects among the trees, on which it resides. 



The STRIPED ANT-EATER. (Myrme- 

 cafihaga striata.) This is a native of Guiana : 



it is about twenty inches long from the tip of 

 its snout to the end of its tail ; the nose is 

 taper, the upper mandible extending very far 

 beyond the lower ; the body and tail are of a 

 tawny colour, with the under parts white ; 

 the body marked with broad, distant, black- 

 ish, transverse stripes, and the tail annulatcd 

 with similar ones. [For SPINE ANT-EATER, 

 see ECHIDNA.] 



ANTELOPE. Un/7ope.) A genus of 

 hollow-horned Ruminants, of which there 

 are many species, each differing from the 

 other in some important points, but agreeing 

 in the grand leading characteristics. Thus, 



8KTJU. OF ANTBLOPV 



speaking generally, it may be said, that An- 

 telopes are of graceful and symmetrical pro- 

 portions ; of a restless and timid disposition, 

 extremely watchful, of great vivacity, re- 

 markably swift and agile, and most of their 

 boundings inconceivably light and elastic. 

 Their horns, whatever shape they assume, 

 are round and annulated ; in some species 

 straight, in others curved and spiral ; in 

 some the females have no horns, in others 

 they are common to both sexes. They all 

 possess a most delicate sense of smell ; their 

 eyes are proverbially bright and beaming ; 

 and so fleet are they, that the huntsman is 

 often obliged to call in the aid of the falcon, 

 trained for the purpose, to seize on the ani- 

 mal and arrest its progress, in order to give 

 the greyhounds an opportunity of overtaking 

 it. Their hair is generally short and smooth, 

 and of an equal length over every part of the 

 body : some species, however, nave manes 

 on the neck and shoulders ; and a few are 

 furnished with long hair on the chin and 

 throat. The ears are long and pointed ; the 

 tails short, and tufted at the extremity. 

 For the most part Antelopes are gregarious, 

 some species forming herds of two or three 

 thousand, while others keep in pairs, or in 

 companies of five or six. They often browse 

 like the goat, and feed on the tender shoots 

 of trees ; and the flesh of those which are 

 taken in the chase is usually of excellent 

 flavour. 



The AntilopidfK seem to be a connecting 

 link between the Goat and the Deer. Like 

 the goat, they never shed their horns ; but, 

 on the other hand, their size and the delicacy 

 of their conformation, the nature and colour 

 of the hair, their fleetness, &c., are striking 

 ints of resemblance to the deer tribe. The 

 nd legs, like those of the hare, being 



po 

 hi 



