ORDER EDENTATA. 299 



dig it out of its retreat, few are more difficult to be ob- 

 tained. Its flesh is wholesome and well tasted. 



It measures from three feet sis inches to four feet from 

 the nose to the anus, and the tail is nearly two feet long. 



The separation of the Orycteropus, whether as genus or 

 sub-genus, from that of Myrmbcophaga, to which we now 

 proceed, seems proper, when it is considered that these 

 latter are purely edentatous — are absolutely toothless. The 

 head and muzzle in the Myrmecophaga have also little of 

 the pig-like character of the Cape Ant-eater ; it is gene- 

 rally greatly elongated, excessively small, with a very nar- 

 row little mouth at the termination. The ears also are 

 small and round ; the tongue very long, cylindrical, pro- 

 tractile to a considerable distance ; and the tail in some 

 species subprehensile. 



D'Azara, the best modern original describer of South 

 American Mammalia, has furnished some additional in- 

 formation on the natural history of the Great American, 

 or maned Ant-Eater, Myrmecophaga Jubata, Lin., aptly 

 called the Gnouroumi, or Little-mouth. The Spaniards 

 of Paraguay call it the Bear Ant-eater, and the Portu- 

 guese, Tamandua. 



This singular animal is an assemblage of anomalies : its 

 head, formed like a trumpet, does not equal in its thickest 

 part the size of the neck ; the tail has some analogy with 

 that of fishes, being, when stript of the fur, extraordinarily 

 thick at its base, and compressed laterally ; the arms are 

 immeasurably strong in reference to the body, very much 

 compressed on the sides, and apparently without any play in 

 the elbow; moreover they are nearly as large below as above, 

 and are altogether much more so than the hind limbs ; the 

 fore feet have scarcely any resemblance to feet, and the 

 animal does not bring them to the ground in the ordinary 

 way, but more as if they were the hoof of a horse, tread- 



