ANT-EATERS. 409 



tail is sometimes furnished with successive rings, sometimes, like the legs, 

 only with detached pieces. These animals have large ears, sometimes four, 

 sometimes five toes on their fore feet, but always five on the hinder. Their 

 tongue is soft and but little extensible ; a few hairs are scattered between the 





<5^^^r 



, ^^S^^F^f-"" 



FIG. 454. WEASEL-HEADED ARMADILLO. 



plates of their armour or over those parts of the body where these plates are 

 deficient. The armadillos vary in size from that of a terrier dog to that of a 

 hedgehog. They are stout in their body and low on their legs ; they dig bur- 

 rows, and feed partly on vegetables, partly on insects and dead animals. They 

 belong to the warm, or at least the temperate, parts of America. 



The Ant-eaters (Myrmecopha^a) inhabit the same countries as the arma- 

 dillos, from which, however, they are readily distinguished. Their body is 

 hairy, and their muzzle, drawn out into a long cylindrical tube, is terminated 

 by a small mouth entirely destitute of teeth. In consequence of the small- 

 ness of their mouth, their jaws can scarcely be separated from each other, nor 

 can the creatures use them to seize or compress their food ; but they are pro- 

 vided with a very long tongue, which, when extended, resembles a great earth- 

 worm : this they are able to protrude to a considerable distance, and as it is 

 always covered with a viscid tenacious slime, they use it for the purpose of 

 catching the ants upon which they feed. By the assistance of their long and 

 powerful nails, the ant-eaters tear up the nests of the termites or white ants, 

 and at the moment when these insects sally forth in crowds from their retreat, 

 protruding amongst them their viscid tongue, seize them by hundreds, and 

 thus convey them into their mouth. When at rest, the claws, that serve also 

 as defensive weapons, are folded against the wrist, so that, as the animal only 

 rests the foot upon the side, its gait is slow. Some species are furnished with 

 a prehensile tail, by which they suspend themselves from the branches of trees. 

 The largest of the tribe, 



The Tamanoir, or Great Ant-Bear (Myrmecophaga* jubata), does not pos- 

 sess this faculty ; it is upwards of four feet long ; its tail is furnished with long hairs, 



/j.vp/j.Tj%, pvpfjt.'riKos, murmex, murmekos, an ant; (fra-yew, phagein, to eat : ant-eater 



