CHAP. I.] THE PENGOLIN. 151 



V. EDEXTATA. Pengolin. Of the Edentata the only 

 example in Ceylon is the scaly ant-eater, called by the 

 Singhalese, Caballaya, but usually known by its Malay 

 name of Pengolin 1 , a word indicative of its faculty of 

 " rolling itself up " into a compact ball, by bending 

 its head towards its stomach, arching its back into a 

 circle, and securing all by a powerful fold of its mail- 

 covered tail. The feet of the pengolin are armed with 

 powerful claws, which in walking they double in, like 

 the ant-eater of Brazil. These they use in extracting 

 their favourite food, the termites, from ant-hills and 

 decaying wood. When at liberty, they burrow in the 

 dry ground to a depth of seven or eight feet, where 

 they reside in pairs, and produce annually one or two 

 young. 



Of two specimens which I kept alive at different 

 times, one, about two feet in length, from the vicinity 

 of Kandy, was a gentle and affectionate creature, which, 

 after wandering over the house in search of ants, would 

 attract attention to its wants by climbing up my knee, 

 laying hold of my leg with its prehensile tail. The other 

 more than double that length, was caught in the jungle 

 near Chilaw, and brought to me in Colombo. I had always 

 understood that the pengolin was unable to climb trees ; 

 but the one last mentioned frequently ascended a tree 

 in my garden, in search of ants, and this it effected by 

 means of its hooked feet, aided by an oblique grasp of 

 the tail. The ants it seized by extending its round and 

 glutinous tongue along their tracks. In both specimens, 

 the scales of the back were a cream-coloured white, 

 with a tinge of red in that which came from Chilaw, 

 probably acquired by the insinuation of the Cabook dust 

 which abounds along the western coast of the island. 

 Generally speaking, they were quiet during the day, and 

 grew restless as evening and night approached. 



VI. KUMIXANTIA. The Gaur. Besides the deer and 



Mania pentadactyla, Linn. 

 t 4 



