

ORDER RUMINANTIA ; GENERAL CHARACTERS. 283 



small species of Ant-Eater, inhabiting the forests of Guiana and 

 Brazil, which is remarkable for having only two toes on the 

 fore-foot, and for possessing a prehensile tail, by which it can 

 suspend itself from the branches of trees, in the bark and fissures 

 of which it seeks the insects that serve for its food. 



ORDER IX. RUMINANTIA. 



251. The division of the herbivorous Mammalia, which is 

 designated by the title of Ruminant, forms a remarkably na- 

 tural and well-defined order ; by which is meant, that all the 

 animals composing it agree in their most important characters, 

 and differ from all those of other orders ; so that there can be no 

 doubt in regard to the position of any one of them. They seem, 

 indeed, as if they were all constructed upon the same model, 

 the variations being often so trifling, that it is difficult to assign 

 definite characters to the subordinate groups. The Camels alone 

 constitute an exception to this general statement ; for these, in 

 the structure of their teeth, and in some other peculiarities, 

 depart from the Ruminant type, and exhibit an approach to the 

 order Pachydermata ; but in this manner they form just that 

 bond of connexion between the two orders, which allied groups, 

 that are really natural, always present. 



252. The animals of this group are, of all the Herbivora, 

 those which are most completely restricted to vegetable food. 

 We have seen that among the Rodentia, there are many which 

 do not reject animal food, and some which greedily devour it. 

 Of the Edentata, a large proportion live on insects ; and many 

 of these also devour animal flesh with avidity. Among the 

 Pachydermata, too, there are several species (as we shall here- 

 after see), to which an animal diet appears by no means un- 

 natural. But this is not the case with a single Ruminant 

 quadruped ; for the whole order seems destined to feed upon 

 vegetable matter, and upon this exclusively. Some, as the 

 Camel and Giraffe, are adapted rather for browzing upon the 



