ANT-EATERS. 411 



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move for any length of time. Its eye possesses a peculiarly 

 cunning expression. 



Of a peaceable and harmless disposition, the ant-bear, when 

 not provoked, never attacks any animal ; but on the approach 

 of an enemy, it assumes the defensive in such a way as to make 

 the boldest aggressor pause. Resting on its left fore-foot, 

 it strikes out its right' with a force sufficient to tear off 

 the hide of the thickest-skinned assailant. When attacked 

 from behind, it turns round with the rapidity of Hghtning ; 

 and when assailed from several quarters at once, it throws 

 itse^ on its back, fighting desperately with both its fore-legs, 

 and uttering angry growls of defiance. So thick is its hide, 

 that no animal has been found with teeth capable of piercing it ; 

 and even when the jaguar, pressed by hunger, dares to assail 

 it, the monarch of the American forest is often driven off, or 

 left weltering in its blood from the wounds inflicted by the 

 formidable claws of the ant-bear. 



When attacking an ant-castle, the tamanoir strikes a hole 

 in the wall of clay with his powerful, crooked claws. The 

 warrior-ants then issue out by thousands to resent the insult, 

 while the labourers retire to the inmost recesses. The soldiers 

 swarm on every part of their assailant, but their sharp man- 

 dibles are unable to pierce its thick skin. The bear then 

 putting forth its long tongue, which is lubricated from two 

 large glands situated below its root, the insects remain stick- 

 ing in the glutinous liquid. When a sufficient supply has been 

 thus obtained, it draws back its tongue within its mouth, and 

 swallows the whole army at a gulp. 



MYRMECOPHAGA TAMANDUA. 



While the vast citadels of the white ant formed on the 



