300 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIII. 
hands that I discovered with certainty what the “ Kharendi’’ was. We obtain- 
edit in acurious way, Dr. Donaldson-Smith was sitting outside his tent 
one day, waiting for me to return to breakfast, when some Midgans passed, 
driving and dragging this poor beast along. On being stopped and questioned, 
they told him that it had got caught in a snare which they had set for Oryx, 
and that they were going to take it into Berbera to sell, They appeared to 
be very rough with it but it did not bear any outward marks of injury, and 
seemed to be only paralysed with fright and exhaustion, so we negotiated for 
the purchase of it, and finally obtained it on the understanding that we would 
pay double the price now settled, if we succeeded in transporting it to the 
Coast alive. The poor beast never rallied, however, and died a few hours 
later, and on skinning it we found that it had been injured internally, and 
was badly bruised about the back and hind-quarters as well. 
The Ant-Bear is classed by the faculty among the “ Edentata”’ or tooth- 
less mammals, but this adjective is not altogether applicable to him, for 
although he is not furnished with canine teeth or incisors he does possess a 
set of back teeth of sorts, and is not therefore under the necessity of swal- 
lowing his food whole ; not that it would necessarily give him indigestion if 
he did, for his food consists almost entirely of termites, for the collection of 
which nature has provided him with a long thin slavery tongue, which, like 
the lizard, he can extend to a great distance and can penetrate with it the holes 
and crevasses into which the ants take refuge. His skin is thick and coarse, 
resembling a pig’s, and covered sparsely with grey hairs, which get darker and 
thicker on the thighs and legs, in fact he has been sometimes called the Harth- 
pig or Ant-pig for this reason, Altogether, with his abnormally long snout and 
ears, and extraordinarily massive tail he is an uncanny object to look at, The 
tail, as may be imagined from its thickness at the root, is almost rigid, and the 
animal cannot apparently cail upon it to perform the usual offices of a long 
tail, such as flicking off flies or actingas a punkah, He could hardly have 
been endowed with such a peculiar appendage except for some special purpose, 
and the extraordinary development of muscle on the underneath part of the 
root leads to the conclusion that he extends it straight out behind him and 
rests his whole weight on it, in order to steady himself while engaged 
in digging, with those powerful curved claws of his, for the ants whieh 
form his staple food. Of these claws he has four on each foot in front 
and five behind, and they are either very uncomfortable to walk upon, 
or else the owner is afraid of getting them blunted unnecessarily, for he 
walks only on the outside of the sole, turning the claws inwards and 
upwards so that only the digit corresponding to our little toe touches 
the ground, As might be expected the Ant-bear livesin a burrow which 
he excavates for himself, but it is said that he is not always allowed 
to enjoy the fruits of his labours, for the Hunting Dog sometimes annexes 
it, and in South Africa the Steinbok, according to one writer, takes refuge 
