THE EDENTATA ENTOMOPHAGA. 287 



2. The Entomophaga. — In this group of Edentata the 

 zygoma sends down no process from its lateral region, al- 

 though, in some rare cases, the anterior part of the arch has a 

 descending prolongation. The acromion and the coracoid do 

 not become united. The scaphoid and the trapezium remain 

 distinct; and the sole of the hind-foot rests upon the ground 

 by a greater or lesser extent of its whole surface, and not 

 merely by its outer edge. 



The insectivorous Edentates are divisible into four groups 

 — a. the Mutica, b. the Squamata, c. the TubuUdentata, and 

 d. the Iioricata. 



a. The group of the Mutica contains the genera Myrme- 

 cophaga and Oyclothurus, the Ant-eaters of South America. 

 The bodies of these animals are covered with hair, and they 

 are provided with very long tails, which are sometimes pre- 

 hensile. The skull is greatly elongated, and the small pre- 

 maxilliB are but loosely connected with it. The jugal arch 

 is incomplete. In Myrmecophaga, the pterygoids, which are 

 very long, stretch back to behind the level of the tympanic 

 bullae, with the whole inner edges of which they are united 

 either by bone or by membrane ; and as, at the same time, they 

 unite in the middle line, the roof of the palate is greatly pro- 

 longed, and the posterior nares are bounded below and at the 

 sides by the pterygoid bones. This arrangement is to be 

 found in no other Mammals, except some Cetacea, nor in any 

 other Vertebrata, except the Crocodiles. The mandible is 

 very slender, the ascending ramus, coroncid process, and angle 

 of the jaw, being obsolete. The articular surface of the con- 

 dyle is flat. The hyoid is placed far back beneath the posterioi 

 cervical vertebrse, and is connected with the skull only by 

 muscles. The thyroid and the cricoid cartilages are ossified. 

 The dorso-lumbar vertebrae are complicated by the presence 

 of accessory articular processes. Well-developed clavicles are 

 present in the climbing Cyclothurus didactylus, but they are 

 incomplete, or absent, in the other species. In the manus, the 

 outer digit, or digits, are devoid of claws, and the weight of 

 the body, when the animal walks, is supported upon its outer 

 edo-e, which is frequently thick and callous. The pes has five 

 digits,*each provided with a strong nail, and the sole rests 

 upon the ground. 



The tongue is extraordinarily long and protractile ; it is 

 not connected to the hyoid by the ordinary hyo-glossus mus- 

 cles ; but long muscles, which are attached to the sternum 

 (sternoglossi), retract it, while it is protracted by the genio- 

 glossi and stylo-hyoidei. 



