THE PANGOLINS. 



175 



of the teeth, and the necessity of having a crushing material somewhere or other. The walls of the 

 stomach are thin near the entry of the gullet tube, but towards the pylorus, or the right side end, the 

 nmscles are well developed, and the mucous membrane is very dense. 



These animals use their claws for the purpose of digging holes in the ground, or in the Ants' nests, 

 for the sake of food, and the position in walking is with the front claws bent under, so that the whole 

 weight of the front of the body is felt on the back (or upper part) of the claws. The hind feet are 

 placed flat, and the sole and under part of the claws sustain the hinder quarters. The joints of the 

 five fingers of the fore feet are so arranged that they can bend downwards only, and indeed they are 

 more or less permanently bent, being kept in that position by strong ligaments. This assists the 

 digging powers of the claws, which are, moreover, forked at their points in some species, and the wrist 

 is rendered very strong by having the joints between two of its bones abolished, and they are united 

 by bone, as in the carnivorous animals. The bones thus united are the scaphoid and semi-lunar bones. 

 Every structure in the creature's fore limbs tends to the promotion of easy and powerful digging, 



FIVE-FINGERED PANGOLIN. 



and as the motion of scratching the ground is directly downwards and backwards, the power of moving 

 the wrist half round, and presenting the palm more or less upwards, as in the Sloths and in man, does 

 not exist. In order to prevent this pronation and stipulation, the part of the fore -arm bone, the 

 radius, next to the elbow, is not rounded, but forms part of a hinge joint. Finally, it is necessary 

 to observe, that the middle claw is the longest of the five on all the extremities, and that as the 

 animal does not require to reach over its head, there is no collar bone. 



The long tail of the Pangolins, stumpy at the end in some kinds, has a considerable number of 

 bones, usually twenty-six ; and the first of them joins on to the last of the back bones of the pelvis. 

 This last, or sacral vertebra, unites on each side with the haunch bones (ischium), and there is no 

 notch in the bone for the passages of the great nerves of the back of the leg, but a hole. 



The thigh bone is flattened from before backwards, and the bones of the leg are wide apart, and 

 all this gives extra powers to the nmscles which have to direct the scraping and digging by the hind 

 feet. The feet are solid and strong, and have not any of the inside turning and club-foot appearance 

 of the Sloths, and the heel bone projects backwards. 



There is an interesting peculiarity about the chest of the Pangolins, for the breast bone is very 

 long, and the cartilage at its end is large, and has two long projections resembling those of the Lizards. 

 The neck consists of seven vertebrae, and the back of thirteen, and there are three or four in the sacrum. 



