ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1563 



"NO MATTER HOW MUCH HE IS TEASED. NOT A SOUNI 

 ESCAPES HIM " 



slowly along a branch overhead. I was quite 

 certain of her sex. for I could distinctly see a 

 young ant-eater clinging to her fur, half be- 

 neath and half to one side. I had no gun, so 

 could only watch her through my glasses and 

 curse the horde of stinging ants which made 

 any ascent of the tree impossible. 



A boviander gold miner was descending the 

 lower Cuyuni rapids late in September of the 

 present year, when an unexpected eddy swung 

 his boat toward shore, and it crashed 

 into some bushes. When he had 

 pushed out again into the still water 

 below, several small boughs re- 

 mained on board. On one of these 

 was a round ball of fur, which, when 

 poked, turned toward the man with 

 such a comical, supplicating gesture 

 that he laughed and allowed the 

 small creature to remain. 



When the Penal Settlement was 

 reached I lifted the little ant-eater 

 carefully and received the same ludi- 

 crous salaam. This was the first liv- 

 ing captive specimen of which I ever 

 had heard, so I devoted myself to 

 making him comfortable, both out- 

 side and in. 



His external wants were simple in 

 the extreme — in comparison those of 

 Omar were complex, with only the 

 bough in common, and this to sit 

 upon and not under. He was happy 



in a cubic foot of space throughout 

 the day, and unless disturbed never 

 moved from the spot he had chosen 

 at dawn. No circle plotted by mathe- 

 matician could be rounder than this 

 small being when engaged in pass- 

 ing the useless hours from dawn to 

 dusk. For him the sun is a wholly 

 useless member of the planetary sys- 

 tem, light is an evil thing, day some- 

 thing to be forgotten in sleep. 



Having obtained a firm grip with 

 both hind feet upon a branch, the 

 little creature bends forward and 

 down, until nose and all four feet 

 come together. Then the long pre- 

 hensile tail curls around, so evenly 

 that without unwinding it, one can- 

 not tell on which side it starts or 

 ends. It is always curled from the 

 right side around in front of the 

 feet, behind the left leg. 



From here on, the bare, pinkish- 

 red tail-grip forms a tiny cup be- 

 tween the feet, in which the sensitive little nose 

 is safely buried. The palms of the forefeet are 

 pressed together, which brings the inbent. twin 

 claws of those limbs close above the face, thus 

 effectively shielding all the delicate parts of the 

 body. 



Homer describes the Cyclopes of old as gi- 

 gantic troglodytes, cannibals with a single eye, 

 living a pastoral life in the far west, ignorant 

 of law and order, and fearing neither sods nor 



"HE TURNED WITH A SUPPLICATING GESTURE' 



