162 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— THE DIGGERS 



Those plates, which were concave underneath 

 and convex above, lay close down upon the skin 

 and upon each other, and were arranged in rows 

 or courses, perfectly imbricated (i.e., joint-break- 

 ing) like the scales of a big fish, or a hawk's-bill 

 turtle. We presently discovered that they were 

 fully controlled by the voluntary muscles of the 

 skin. The tail was very broad, measuring 5 J 

 inches across where it joined the body, slightly 

 hollowed underneath, and rounded on the top. 

 It was a most useful appendage, and its special 

 function was to protect the head. 



In walking, the Manis carried his back very 

 highly arched in the middle. The long and 

 powerful front claws were bent under the feet, 

 until they pointed directly backward, and were 

 literally walked upon. The heavy tail barely 

 cleared the ground, and the nose was always 

 carried low, as if slyly searching for something. 

 Often the creature stood erect on its hind legs, 

 like a kangaroo, especially when looking about 

 for insect food, and as it walked its armor 

 clanked like that of an ancient mail-clad knight. 



Whenever he found a colony of ants, he would 

 begin to dig most industriously. After digging a 

 short distance into an ant-hill, and exposing the 

 interior, he would thrust his long and slender 

 tongue into the passage-ways, and draw it out 

 thickly covered with ants. 



To me, the most wonderful thing about the 

 animal was its means of protection from its ene- 

 mies, for it cannot truthfully be called defence. 

 Without some very special provision of Nature, 

 a slow-moving, toothless and hornless terrestrial 

 animal would fare badly in jungles inhabited by 

 leopards, tigers, wolves, jackals and wild swine. 



When I first endeavored to become acquainted 

 with my Manis, he immediately tucked his head 

 down between his four legs, brought his tail under 

 his body and up over his head, held it there close- 

 ly, and thus formed of himself a flattened ball 

 completely covered with scale armor. When I 

 undertook to uncoil him, I could not manage it 

 alone, and called a servant to help me ; but the 

 tail clung to the body as tightly as if it had been 

 riveted there. Then I called another man, and 

 while I held the body, the other two pulled on 

 the tail with all their strength, to uncoil it. But 

 in vain. We wrestled with that small animal until 

 we were fairly exhausted, and so great was the 

 power of the tail that we gave up beaten. 



From the very first, I had no end of trouble 

 with my scaly pet. I could not tie him, for on 

 no part of his body or limbs would a rope hold 

 ten minutes without hurting him. During the 

 day, he was reasonably quiet, but at night he was 

 very restless, and anxious to go out ant-hunting. 

 For the first night, I shut him up in the main 

 room of the Rest House; and in' the morning I 

 found him fully ready to break through a hole he 

 had dug with his big front claws in the ten-inch 

 wall of solid masonry. Well may naturalists 

 assign the Pangolins to the independent Order 

 of Diggers! 



The next night, I placed the Pangolin in a 

 large tin box, well covered with boards. At 

 three o'clock in the morning the village dogs 

 raised such a row at the edge of the jungle that 

 my servant went to them to investigate; and 

 it was that animal. It had torn a hole in one 

 corner of its tin prison, and escaped; and but for 

 the very dogs that had so often annoyed me by 

 trying to steal my specimens, it would have been 

 lost to me forever. 



THE AARD-VARK FAMILY. 



This Family contains but one genus and two 

 species, the Cape Aard-Vark, 1 of South Africa, 

 and the Ethiopian Aard-Vark, of East Central 

 Africa. 



With their usual facility in misnaming wild 

 animals, the Boer pioneers in Cape Colony be- 

 stowed upon the species found there the name 

 Earth-" Pig," and it has become a fixture. 



The Cape Aard-Vark is as much like a pig 

 as it is like a jack-" rabbit," but no more. Cut 

 off its extremely long and rabbit-like ears, cover 

 it with imbricated scales to fit its body, and ex- 

 ternally we will have a rather tall pangolin, about 

 5 feet long. Unlike the pangolins, the jaws are 

 provided with teeth. The tail is long, thick and 

 heavy, and its special use is not quite apparent. 



In the usually wise economy of Nature, these 

 insect-eating animals were developed in Africa 

 for the special purpose of checking the ants of that 

 region. Their powerful front claws enable them 

 to dig with great success into the tall and also 

 numerous ant-hills of Africa, and before the days 

 of universal game destruction, the Aard-Vark 

 was oftenest found where ant-hills were most 

 numerous. 



1 0-ryc-ter'o-pus n'jer. 



