284 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Varieties of the pangolin. 



the mouth and tongue very long and narrow, 

 A strong scaly armour defends all the upper 

 parts of the body ; but the under part of the head 

 and neck, the breast, belly, and inner parts of 

 the legs and thighs, are covered with a soft and 

 delicate skin, entirely destitute of scales or hair. 



The shells or scales of this extraordinary qua- 

 druped, are of various forms and dimensions, and 

 are stuck on the surface of the skin like the leaves 

 on an artichoke: and between the interstices of 

 the scales appear a number of stout hairs like 

 hog's bristles, yellow at the root, and brown to- 

 wards the points. 



Of this genus of quadrupeds, naturalists for- 

 merly reckoned but two species, the long and 

 the short-tailed manis; but another has been re- 

 cently introduced to public notice under the ap- 

 pellation of the broad-tailed manis, and which is 

 denominated in the sixtieth volume of the Phi- 

 losophical Transactions, the new manis. 



The long-tailed manis is distinguished by the 

 Indians by the name of phatagen, whence Buffon 

 calls it h phatagin. The form of this animal is 

 much more slender than the rest of the species ; 

 the snout is tapering, and very narrow ; the tail 

 is more than twice the length of the whole body, 

 and tapers gradually like that of a lizard to the 

 extremity. All the upper parts of the body and 

 limbs are covered with sharp pointed scales, 

 streaked throughout their whole length. It has 

 very short legs, and the feet are furnished with 



