THE PORCUPINE ANT-EATER 503 



odontes gigas) is at least four feet long from the tip of the 



snout to the tip of the tail, the Chlamyphoims truncatus, 



which inhabits the province of Men- 



doza in the Andes, and is remarkable '^-'^ v\'^'Y^^ 



for its mole-like propensities, passing ,,^// -^Z^- ^^''^' 



the greatest part of its life under ground, -fefca^U^ 



scarcely measures six inches in length. 



But even the giant armadillo is a 

 pigmy when compared to the extinct 



• 111 • 1 1.1 ,. « Gi:irib Aimadillo 



maii-clad animals, which at times of 



unknown antiquity peopled the plains of South America. Mr. 

 Darwin saw, in the possession of a clergyman near Monte Video, 

 the fragment of a tail of one of these monsters of the past, 

 from which he conjectured that it must have been from 

 six to ten feet long ; and the glyptodon, of which the College 

 of Surgeons possesses an admirable specimen, and which, like 

 the armadillos of the present day, was covered with a tesselated 

 bony armour, was equal in size to the rhinoceros ! How for- 

 midable must have been the enemies which made it necessary 

 for an animal like this to move about with harness on its 

 back ! 



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

 trix) of Australia, is a striking instance 

 of those beautiful gradations so fre- 

 quently observed in the animal king- 

 dom, by which creatures of various 

 tribes or p-enera are blended, as it 



Porcvipine Echidna. 



were, or linked together, and of the 



wonderful 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- 

 eaters. It is about a foot in length, and burrows with wonder- 

 ful facility by means of its short muscular fore-feet and its 

 sharp-pointed claws. When attacked, it rolls itself into a ball 

 like the hedgehog, erecting the short, strong, and very sharp 

 spines with which the upper parts of the body and tail are 

 thickly coated. 



Australia is likewise the native country of another ant-eating 



