4t HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



calculated for defence than that of the armadillo, inasmuch as it 

 assumes somewhat of an offensive as well as a defensive cha- 

 racter. All these animals are covered with large, sharp-edged 

 scales, of a stout horny consistence, which overlap each other 

 like the tiles of a house. They are of wonderful hardness, and 

 form a buckler which is impenetrable to any weapons possessed 

 by the carnivorous animals of the regions wherein it resides. 

 A specimen of the Bajjerkeit, or Shoet-tailed Mauis of India 

 (Manis pentadactyla), now before me, affords a good example of 

 this weapon-resisting power. Edwin Arnold, Esq. to whom I 

 am indebted for this specimen, possessed it in a living state for 

 a considerable time, and, when he was about to leave India, de- 

 termined to kill the animal and take the skin with him. Accord- 

 ingly, he fired three barrels of a Colt's revolver pistol at the 

 Manis, but without the slightest effect, and was at last obliged 

 to introduce the point of a dagger under the scales, and drive 

 the weapon into the heart. On examining the interior of the 

 skin, the wound caused by the double-edged dagger is plainly 

 perceptible, but I cannot find the slightest trace of the buUet-s. 

 One of the balls, indeed, recoiled upon the intending destroyer. 



AVhen the Manis is alarmed, it rolls itself up, wraps its tail 

 over the body, and lies in conscious security, the horny scales 

 acting as a buckler, and their sharp edges deterring enemies 

 from the attack as much as the quills of the porcupine or the 

 spines of the hedgehog. 



The curious Aaed Vark of Southern Africa {Orycferoptis 

 Capensis) is another of the earth-burrowers, residing, for the 

 most part, in great holes which it scoops in the ground. 



The name Aard Vark is Dutch, signifying Earth-hog, and is 

 given to the animal on account of its extraordinaiy powers of 

 excavation and the swine-like contour of its head. The claws 

 with which this animal works are enormous, as, indeed, is need- 

 ful for the task which they are intended to perform. They are 

 by no means intended merely to excavate burrows in soft or 

 sandy soil, though they are frequently employed for that pur- 

 pose ; but they are designed for labours far more arduous. By 

 means of these implements, the Aard Vark tears to pieces the 

 enormous ant-hills which stud the plains of Southern Africa — 

 edifices so strongly made as to resemble stone ratlier than nmd, 



