488 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



one with a long and conical tail, the other with a short caudal 

 appendage, formed like a club. They differ greatly in size, for 

 while the giant armadillo {Priodontea gigas) is at least four 

 feet long from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail, the 

 Pichiciago {Ghlamyphorus truncatus), which inhabits the 

 province of Mendoza in the Andes, and is remarkable for its 

 mole-like propensities, passing the greatest part of its life 

 underground, scarcely measures six inches in length. 



riCHIOIAGO. 



The curious Echidna, or Porcupine Ant-eater {Echidna hys- 

 trix) of Australia, is a striking instance of those beautiful gra- 

 dations so frequently observed in the 

 animal kingdom, by which creatures 

 of various tribes or genera are blended 

 as it were, or linked together, and of 

 the wonderfid diversity which Nature 

 has introduced into the forms of 

 creatures destined to a similar mode of life. It has the 

 general appearance and external coating of the porcupine, 

 with the mouth and peculiar generic characters of the ant- 



PullCUl'IXK ECHIDNA. 



