Ill THE SERVICE OF TAILS 6/ 



son Tait has pointed out, is that it answers the 

 purpose of a respirator, warming the air, before 

 it is breathed, to a temperature more suitable for 

 health, and one that will detract less heat from 

 the body than would air entering the lungs wholly 

 untempered. 



An extension of this overcoat idea into that of 

 a coat of mail is exhibited in certain of the arma- 

 dillos, as the tatusids, where the scaly investiture 

 of the long tail is a part of the protection of the 

 soft under-parts when the animal rolls itself into 

 a ball and defies its enemy's teeth. The same is 

 true of the larger pangolins, whose tail, covered 

 with scales on the outside, and held closely 

 appressed to its rolled-up body, is a very impor- 

 tant part of its self-protection. In that excellent 

 book, William T. Hornaday's "Two Years in the 

 Jungle," you may read a most instructive account 

 of the Indian species of pangolin {Manis pentadac- 

 tyld), a live example of which was kept by the 

 author for some time, as follows : 



" My new pet evidently expected fair treatment 

 at our hands, for he soon uncoiled himself and 

 stood up for examination. He was just three feet 

 long, including his tail, — which by itself measured 

 seventeen inches, — and his weight was eighteen 

 pounds. This tail was a most useful appendage, 

 for it was very broad, measuring five and a half 

 inches across where it joined the body, slightly 

 hollowed underneath and rounded on the top, its 



