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 

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

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

 curiosity. 



249. The only known species of this group which is found 

 elsewhere than in South America, 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 Armadillos ; but being destitute of their scaly armour, 

 and possessing 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 tearing open the roofs of the mud-walled hillocks which 

 these insects 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 waggons 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 insectivorous division of this 

 order, there are two genera, the Myrmecophaga, or proper 

 Ant-eater 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, 



