MAMMALS. 587 



cal America, and then when the hill is open, that long tongue shown 

 coiled like a string on the ground is protruded from the long, tubular 

 muzzle, thickly coated with a sticky saliva, and then, covered with ants, is 

 drawn into the mouth. The structure of the fore feet makes these animals 

 very awkward upon the ground, and as they walk, the toes are doubled in 

 under, and the functional sole is formed by the side of the foot. Others 

 of the group are almost as arboreal as the sloths, seeking their insect prey 

 in the trees. 



The aard-vark of the Booers of South Africa (earth-hog the name 

 means) combines the habits of both the ant-eater and the armadillo, and 

 has but little of the hog in its appearance. Like the armadillo it lives in 

 burrows beneath the ground, and like the ant-eater it is insectivorous in its 

 habits. It walks better than its relatives, and when night begins, it sets 

 out on its nocturnal rambles. With its short, broad claws it digs most 

 rapidly, and by means of these it is able to quickly make a hole in the 

 hard domes of the termites. Its tongue is not so long as that of the ant- 

 eater, but it is covered with the same viscid saliva, and is used in the same 

 way in taking the food. 



The pangolins of Asia and Africa are armored forms, but their armor 

 differs from that of an armadillo, being composed of large scales arranged 

 like those of a pine-cone. Their habits need a word. They, like others of 

 their relatives, are ant-eaters, and their large claws are used in the same 

 way in digging, not only the holes in which they live, but into the nests of 

 the ants and termites. Some of these are able to climb trees by means of 

 the claws and the tail, which is somewhat prehensile. In confinement, 

 according to Sir Emerson Tennant, in his charming volumes on Ceylon, 

 they make very gentle and affectionate pets, and in nowise seem to deserve 

 the name Manis — a ghost or departed spirit — which Linnceus gave them. 



Rodents. 



The rodents are gnawing animals, familiar to all in rats, mice, squir- 

 rels, and the like. In number of species they far excel all the other groups 

 of mammals, and the same is true of the individuals. The swarms of rats 

 of our cellars and barns, sewers and wharves, are beyond enumeration ; but 

 even these do not compare with the mighty hordes of lemmings which live 

 in the Arctic regions. And yet all this series is of comparatively little use 

 tc man. Some afford him furs and skins, and a few are of use as food, 

 but the great majority are almost unmitigated nuisances. 



There is one structural feature to which we would call attention before 

 the enumeration of the species. This is the structure of the front, or 



