262 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Habits, &c. 



The smaller kinds frequent the vicinity of lakes, 

 crooks, and rivers, where they subsist on roots, 

 succulent herbs, and water-melons. But the 

 larger species seek the upland, and are generally 

 found in the sides of rocks and mountains. 



Those with the fewest bunds are least capable 

 of defending themselves, and, when rolled up, 

 present vulnerable interstices between the zones, 

 by which they are liable to be wounded by the 

 rudest weapon. 



THE PANGOLIN. 



" WERE we to judge of nature," says an in- 

 telligent writer, " from definitions only, we 

 should never be induced to suppose that there 

 existed a race of viviparous quadrupeds destitute 

 of hair, and furnished with scales and shells in 

 their stead. However, nature, every way, vari- 

 ous, supplies us with many instances of these ex- 

 traordinary creatures; the old world has its qua- 

 drupeds covered with scales, and the new with 

 shells. In both they resemble each other, as 

 well in the strangeness of their appetites, as their 

 awkward conformation. Like animals but par- 

 tially made up, and partaking of different na- 

 tures, they want those instincts which animals 

 formed but for one element alone are found to 

 possess. They seem to be a kind of strangers in 



