52 



MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 



Case 34.1 



able to burrow in the soil with surprising rapidity, either with the 

 object of escaping danger or in search of their food, which consists 

 of roots, insects, worms, reptiles, and carrion. They are found in 

 the warmer parts of America only, where also the remains of their 

 extinct gigantic predecessors (Glyptodori) occur in great abundance. 

 In the Old World the Edentata are represented by the Manid<K t 

 or Pangolins, which, with their long scaly bodies and tails, and 

 their short legs, look more like reptiles than mammals. Like the 

 Anteaters they are toothless, arid live similarly on ants, which they 

 catch with their tongues. The scales may be looked upon as hairs, 

 or rather spines, enormously enlarged and dilated. Their long, 

 strong, and broad tails form part of the protective armour when 

 they coil themselves up into a ball like an Armadillo, or they use 

 them as supports in climbing the trunk of a tree. Some species 



Fig. 19. 



Aard-vark (Orycteropus afer). 



rest themselves on the tail, which is adpressed to a trunk, whilst the 

 body is thrown backwards and assumes the appearance of a pro- 

 jecting broken branch (fig. 18). In order to keep their claws sharp 

 they walk with them closed up against the palms of the feet, the 

 backs only of the toes touching the ground. In all there are 

 seven species of Pangolins, of which four are African and three 

 Asiatic. 



The Tubulidentata, or Tube-toothed Edentates, consist of one 

 species only, the Aard-vark (Orycteropus afer], a native of the 

 whole of Africa, strikingly different from all other Edentates 

 (fig. 19). Aard-varks are distinguished externally by their long, 



