1882.] | MR. Ww. A. FORBES ON THE GREAT ANTEATER. 287 
1. On some Points in the Anatomy of the Great Anteater 
(Myrmecophaga jubata). By W. A. Forses, B.A., 
Prosector to the Society. 
[Received February 28, 1882. ] 
(Plate XV.) 
The literature relating to the anatomical structure of the Edentata, 
though very considerable, is unfortunately much scattered, and with 
many blanks as regards special points. The genus Myrmecophaga 
may be considered—thanks chiefly to the labours of Owen! and Pou- 
chet?, who have elaborately described many parts of its organization— 
to be the best known, as regards anatomical structure, of all the 
existing Anteaters. Two adult female specimens of this animal 
having lately * passed through my hands in my prosectorial capacity, 
I have had the opportunity of confirming a large part of the already 
published accounts of its anatomy, as well as of correcting, or adding, 
certain details, which I now lay before the Society. 
1. Alimentary Canal and Appendages.—The palate (fig. 1, p. 288) 
is not absolutely smooth, but presents anteriorly a series of irregular 
transverse ridges notched along their margin, best developed and nearly 
meeting mesially anteriorly, posteriorly becoming much more oblique 
backwardsand less regular, the. ridges not being opposite each other but 
more or less alternating. In all there are about seven of these ridges. 
The floor of the mouth to about 2 inches beyond the most posterior 
opening of the submaxillary glands, the gums over the tip of the 
lower jaw, and the lateral callous pads which are present as in 7'a- 
mandua, are all covered with minute, retroverted, closely-set papille. 
1 “On the Anatomy of the Great Anteater,” Part I., Trans. Zool. S oc. iy. 
pp- 117-140, pls. xxxvii.-xl.; Part IL., 7. ¢. pp. 179-181, pls. li—liii. 
2 Mémoires sur le Grand Fourmilier: Paris, 1874. 
In addition to these, there are brief references to Myrmecophaga jubata in 
Rapp’s ‘ Edentaten’ (2e Aufl., Tiibingen, 1852), and Prof. Flower’s Hunterian 
Lectures (Med. Times and Gazette, Noy. 30, 1872, p. 591). The submaxillary 
glands have been described by Gervais (C. R. lxix. pp. 1110, 1111 [1869]); 
and the brain by the same author (“ Mémoire sur les formes cérébrales propres 
aux Hdentés vivants et fossiles,” Nouv. Arch. Mus. v. pp. 1-56, pls. i—yv.), and 
by G. Pouchet (‘Mémoire sur l'encephale des Edentés,” Robin’s Journal 
de l Anatomie, 1868, pp. 658-675, and 1869, pp. 1-18, &c.). 
3 The first of these, from Buenos Ayres (spec. d of the List of Vertebrates), 
was presented to the Society by the Hon. L. 8. Sackville West (now H. B. M’s. 
Minister at Washington) on Sept. 7, 1877. It died Nov. 29, 1881, from severe 
inflammation of the connective tissues lying in and around the submaxillary 
lands, 
; The second (specimen @) was presented so long ago as October 4, 1867, by Dr. 
J. A. Palin, C.M.Z.S., and, after living for more than 14 years in the Society’s Gar- 
dens, died on the 5th of February of the present year. The only disease detected 
in it, on post mortem examination, was a considerable enlargement of the thymus 
gland, and acute inflammation of the laryngeal mucous membrane. This second 
specimen, though an aged animal, was by no means so large as the first, having 
a total length of 6 ft. 14 in. (from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, which 
was 2 ft. 4 in. long), as against 7 ft. 5} in. in the other. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1882, No. XX. 20 
