EDENTATA. 54 1 



rash out to see what is the matter, the Ant-eater thrusts out its 

 glutinous tongue, an action which can be repeated with mar- 

 vellous rapidity. Two other species have been described, both 

 much smaller than the preceding, and both arboreal in their 

 habits, and furnished with prehensile tails. 



b. Manidm. — This family includes only the Scaly Ant-eaters 

 or Pangolins, all exclusively confined to the Old World, and 

 found in both.Africa and Asia. The whole of the body, limb.s, 

 and tail in the Manidce is covered with an armour of homy 

 imbricated plates, overlapping like the tiles of a house, and 

 apparently consisting of agglutinated hairs. The legs are 

 short, and furnished with four or five toes each, ending in long 

 and strong digging-claws ; but there are no clavicles. The 

 tongue resembles that of the Hairy Ant-eaters in being long 

 and contractile, and capable of being exserted for a consider- 

 able distance beyond the mouth. It is covered with a glutinous 

 saliva, and is the agent by which the animal catches ants and 

 other insects. The jaws are wholly destitute of teeth. When 

 threatened by danger, the Pangolins roll themselves up into a 

 ball, like the hedgehogs. The tail is comparatively long, and 

 is covered with scales. Though very strong for their size, 

 none of the species attain a length of more than three or four 

 feet, inclusive of the tail. The best-known species are the 

 Manis pentadactyla of India, and the Manis tetradactyla of 

 Africa. 



c. Oryderopidm. — The last family of the living Edentata is 

 that of the Orycteropidce, comprising only the single genus 

 Oryderopus. This genus comprises only a single species, the 

 O. Capensis, which is peculiar to South Africa, and is known 

 by the Dutch colonists as the "Aardvark" or Ground-hog. 

 The animal is nocturnal in its habits, and lives upon insects. 

 The body is elongated, and the tail is long, the species attain- 

 ing a total length of four feet or more. The legs are short, 

 and the feet plantigrade, the anterior pair having four ungui- 

 culate toes, the posterior five. The claws are strong and 

 curved, and enable the animal to construct extensive burrows. 

 The skin is very thick, and is thinly covered with bristly hairs; 

 and the tail is hairy. The head is elongated, and the mouth 

 small — devoid of incisor and canine teeth, but furnished with 



7 — 7 

 a number of cylindrical molars {y — J). The crowns of the 



molars are flat, and they are composed of dentine traversed by 

 numerous dichotomising pulp-cavities. The tongue is long, 

 flat, and slender, and is covered by a sticky saliva, by the aid 

 of which the animal catches insects. The head is long and 



