ioo IN THE GUIANA FORES1. 



that there is safety in combination and rarely 

 strays from his fellows. 



Among the most curious of the inhabitants 

 of the forest that are not arboreal is the ant 

 bear. This creature, with its powerful forelegs, 

 great claws, and tapering snout, suggests at once 

 that there have been several strange factors at 

 work to create such a monster. And, when we 

 find that it lives entirely on ants and termites, 

 our wonder is by no means diminished. To feed 

 an animal of this size on such pigmies seems 

 almost unnatural, and yet the multitude of ants 

 in the forest and on the sand-reef is so enormous, 

 that there is, after all, no difficulty in realising the 

 fact. We shall have something to say of the ant 

 world presently, so will now only call attention to 

 the impossibility of studying one part of nature 

 without some knowledge of other divisions. 



In the silence of the forest the least sound is 

 heard by the animals long before a noisy intruder 

 can get a sight of them. The labba peeps from 

 his home in the hollow tree, cocks up his ears, 

 and, if he hears a footstep, retires again to its re- 

 cesses. If near to the water he dives and comes up 

 some distance away, hiding his head among water- 

 plants or in the midst of one of the dense bushes 

 which come down into the stream. The acourie 



