2io EDENTATES. 



All the ant-eaters are characterised by the body being clothed with hair, and 

 by the more or less marked elongation of the head, in which the mouth is tubular, 

 and provided with a long worm-like tongue, while teeth are wanting. The mouth 

 has only a small aperture at its extremity, through which, when feeding, the long 

 extensile tongue, coated with viscid saliva, is rapidly protruded and as instantane- 

 ously withdrawn. The tail is always long, and in two species is prehensile. In 

 the fore-feet the middle toe is enlarged and furnished with an enormous curved 

 claw, while the other digits are reduced in size, and some of them may be rudi- 

 mentary. The hind-limbs are as long as the front pair ; and their feet terminate 

 in four or five equal-sized and clawed toes. In the skeleton the collar-bones are 

 generally rudimentary, although in one genus well-developed ; and the ribs are 

 remarkable for their breadth. In the soft parts the stomach is comparatively 

 simple, the brain much more convoluted than in the sloths. The heart is very 

 small. As their name implies, ant-eaters are purely insectivorous. 



SKELETON OF GREAT ANT-EATER. 



Great Ant Eater. 



The great, or maned ant-eater (Myrmecophaga jubata) — known 

 in Paraguay as the yurumi, and in Surinam as tamanoa — is the 

 largest member of the family. Externally it is characterised by the extreme elon- 

 gation of its narrow head, and the enormous mass of long hair clothing the tail. 

 The anterior portion of the head forms a kind of cylindrical beak, which is of 

 far greater length than the hinder half, and carries the small nostrils at its tip. 

 The eyes are minute ; and the oval ears small and erect. The body is somewhat 

 compressed laterally, and is about equal in length to the tail, which is not 

 prehensile. In the fore-feet claws are present upon all the toes except the 

 fifth : that of the third being far larger than either of the others ; when walking 

 the toes are bent back, and the weight of the body supported on the upper 

 surfaces of the third and fourth, aided by a hard pad at the extremity of the fifth. 

 The hind-feet, in which the toes are of nearly equal length, are comparatively 

 short, 1 and have the soles applied to the ground in walking. The hair is stiff and 

 bristly : although short on the head it is of considerable, though varying, length on 

 the body. On the neck and back it forms an upright mane ; while on the fore- 



1 They are somewhat too long in the figure. 



