378 MAMMALS OF SIAM AND THE MALAY PENINSULA. [Apr. 3, 



Order EDENTATA. 



Family Manid^e. 



160. Manis javanica Desm. The Malay Scaly Anteater. 



Manis javanica, Cantor, p. 51 : Blauf. Faun. Incl., Mamra. 

 p. 599, tig. 199 (p. 600). 



" Niin " of the Siamese. 



" Pending " or " Pangolin " of the Malays, according to 

 authors. 



" Tangiling " of the Malays. 



Cantor records the Manis from Penang and the Peninsula, and 

 sa y S : — « Although numerous in rocky situatious, is not often 

 captured, a3 it is seldom abroad till after sunset. The largest 

 male measured from the apex of the nose to the root of tail one 

 foot nine and a half inches (546 mm.); the tail one foot eight 

 inches (508 mm.)." Eidley (J. S. B. K. A. S. no. 25, 1894, p. 60) 

 records it from Pramau, Pekan, in Pahang ; and (Nat. Science, vi. 

 1895, p. 165) says: "It is frequently found in opeu saudy 

 country, making large burrows in the ground/' and remarks on its 

 habits.' In the Museum at Taiping there are several specimens 

 from Larut,Perak, and in the Museum at Kuala Lumpor specimens 

 from Selangor. Hanitsch (Rep. Baffles Libr. & Mus. 1898, p. 9) 

 records this species from Singapore. There were three specimens 

 from Siam in the Museum at Bangkok, the largest, as slutted, was 

 3 feet 4£ inches (say 1028 mm.) in total length. 



In April 1896 I saw a female and young one alive in Penang, 

 said to have been just caught in the bills on the island. Mr. P. 

 H. Malcolm Staples told me (Sept. 1897) that he once got an 

 Anteater at Batu Pabat, Johore; they ate it and found it good. 

 In June 1897 I saw the skin of a specimen that had been just 

 killed at Ayuthia, Siam ; this was in a flat alluvial plain, with no 

 rocky bills within many miles. In January 1898 we got two 

 specimens at Chantaboou, both caught by natives ; one was brought 

 in alive, but it died in nine days. In May 1898 we got a live one 

 in Kedab, which also died in nine days. In each case we could not 

 get them to feed; at night they were turned loose in the lower part 

 of the bouse (where ants and innumerable other iusects abounded), 

 to forage for themselves, but I never observed them even attempting 

 to eat. They were the least intelligent animals I have ever kept ; 

 they wandered about the bouse a great deal at night, and one we 

 let walk in the garden so as to watch it in the moonlight : they 

 showed no inclination to dig or search for food, but walked on till 

 they came to an obstacle, when they proceeded to climb up it ; if, 

 for instance, it was a chair, they climbed on to it, then on to the 

 back, and then fell off the other side, and continued walking as 

 before. The prehensile tail is very difficult to detach once the 

 animal has coiled up round one's arm. 



