FAMILY LORICATA; ORYCTEROPUS. TRUE EDENTATA. 281 



a native of Chili, where, like a Mole, it works out galleries in 

 the rich soil of the valleys, living for the most part under ground 

 in quiet seclusion, and feeding upon the insects, worms, and 

 larva) which it meets with in its mining operations. It is a 

 very rare animal, being regarded by the natives themselves as a 

 curiosity. 



249. A species which forms a complete transition from this 

 group to the next, is the Orycteropus, of the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; which is termed by the Dutch Colonists Aard-vark, or 

 Earth-hog. This animal, which is about the size of a Badger, 

 connects the preceding group with the toothless Ant-Eaters ; 

 having the molar teeth and strong digging fore-feet of the Ar- 

 madillos ; but being destitute of their scaly armour, and possess- 

 ing the hairy covering and long extensible tongue of the true 

 Ant-eaters. The Aard-vark is insectivorous in its habits, 

 attacking the large ant-hills of the districts it inhabits, by tear- 

 ing open the roofs of the mud-walled hillocks which these in- 

 sects construct ; and it forms very extensive burrows at a little 

 distance beneath the surface of the ground, which are sometimes 

 so numerous, as to become sources of danger to horses and wag- 

 gons traversing the country. When alarmed in its retreat, it 

 mines onwards with such rapidity, as frequently to elude the 

 search of those who would dig it out. 



250. Of the TRUE EDENTATA, or toothless Ant-eaters^ which 

 constitute the second family of the second division of this order, 

 there are two typical genera, the Myrmecophaga, or proper 

 Ant-cater of South America, and the Manis or Pangolin of 

 Africa and India. Both these are characterised by the total 

 absence of teeth, by the pointed form of the muzzle and the 

 narrowness of the mouth, by the possession of a long, slender, 

 extensible tongue, which is moistened by an extremely viscid 

 saliva, and by strong feet armed with sharp cutting claws. 

 These last are adapted rather for tearing open the dwellings of the 

 Termites, or White Ants, on which these animals feed, than for 

 excavating burrows in the soil ; when an entrance has been thus 

 forced, the long tongue is sent down in the nest, and, when with- 

 drawn, brings back into the mouth a large number of Ants. 



