A YO UNG NA TURALIST. 275 



had secreted themselves under his leathern shirt. I could not 

 help laughing at him. 



" Look here, Gringalet's skin is all over lumps ! " said Lucien, 

 stroking the animal. 



" They are caused by parasitic insects," said Sumichrast, 

 " called ticks. In future we must clear Gringalet every evening 

 of these inconvenient visitors." 



" But they won't come off." 



" Pull them suddenly ; their mouth is a kind of disc armed 

 with two hooks, which, if once buried in an animal's skin, are 

 difficult to extract." 



" How hideous they look with their little legs placed close to 

 their heads ; here is one which is quite round like a pea." 



" It is because it has begun its meal." 



" Does the tick only attack dogs ? " 



" The dog has his own peculiar species ; other kinds lodge 

 under birds' feathers, and some birds have two or three sorts of 

 parasites. There is one belonging to the turkey, to the peacock, 

 to the sparrow, to the vulture, to the magpie, &c. I don't think 

 there is a bird or animal which does not, like Gringalet, possess 

 its own peculiar parasite." 



We had started oiF again, and another glade led us towards a 

 field extensively ploughed up by moles. 



Sumichrast led the way, and conducted us towards the lake I 

 had mentioned to him the day before. L'Encuerado caught hold 

 of my arm to call my attention to an enormous animal moving 

 about in the midst of the foliage. 



The animal came down slowly, and we could only see it 

 indistinctly. At last it reached the lower branches. It was 

 an ant-eater {Myrmecophaga jubata). It remained motionless 

 for an instant, moving its enormous muzzle, and darting out its 

 flat tongue, which, being covered with a slimy coating, enabled it 

 to catch up the ants with faciUty. At length the " bear," as it 

 is called by the Indians, slid down the trunk, hanging on to it 

 with its enormous claws, its prehensile tail strongly clinging to 

 the sides of the tree. 



At the sight of this shapeless beast, only fifty paces from us, 



