1 86 



THE EDENTATES. 



standing the small size of the animal the bony 

 skeleton is of remarkable solidity, and espe- 

 cially in the fore-limbs, which are armed with 

 five enormous sickle-shaped claws. The 

 hind-feet are likewise five-toed but less strong; 

 the pelvis is of considerable size. The flat 

 and twisted humerus and femur, both bearing 

 well-marked ridges for the attachment of the 

 muscles, as well as other 

 peculiarities of the. skele- 

 ton, give this dwarf more 

 resemblance to the ex- 

 tinct giant forms Mega- 

 therium, Scelidotherium, 

 and Glyptodon than to 

 any other living animal. 

 The pichiciago lives in 

 underground holes. 



THE 



WORM-TONGUED 



EDENTATES 



(VERMILINGUIA). 



The principal feature 

 in this family is a tongue 

 of extraordinary length. 

 This tongue is always 

 covered with very viscous 

 saliva, which enables it 

 to serve as an organ of prehension. The 

 long weak jaws are in most cases without 

 teeth, and when closed form a sort of tube 

 in which the tongue plays. The opening of 

 the mouth is usually very small. 



The Earth-hogs (Orycteropus) are natives 

 of Africa, and having shorter and stronger 

 jaws than the other members of the family, 

 having these jaws occupied by teeth, and 

 having besides a wide mouth and a strongly 

 built skeleton, form in a manner a transition 

 from the armadillos to the ant-eaters. 

 Naturalists are not yet agreed as to whether 

 the forms belonging to this genus, forms ex- 

 tending to Abyssinia on the one hand and to 

 the Senegal on the other hand, are to be 



Fig. 243. — The Pichiciago [Chlamydophorus truncatus). p. 185 



regarded as different species or merely geo- 

 graphical varieties. The form represented, 

 fig. 244, the Aard-vark or Cape Ant-bear 

 {Orycteropus capensis), is found, as the name 

 implies, at the Cape of Good Hope. This 

 creature, with its arched back, its long and 

 sturdy hind-legs, and its powerful tail, on 

 which it is in the habit of sitting erect, has a 

 slight resemblance in 

 form to the kangaroo, but 

 its remarkably strong 

 fore-limbs and its head 

 drawn out into a long 

 snout like that of a pig 

 have no resemblance 

 whatever to the corres- 

 ponding parts of the mar- 

 supial just mentioned. 

 The nostrils are sur- 

 rounded by a fringe of 

 bristles; the very large 

 naked pointed ears are 

 narrow and funnel- 

 shaped. The feet have 

 four toes in front and five 

 behind, and all the toes 

 have strong flat claws 

 surrounding the last pha- 

 lanx like hoofs, and pro- 

 vided with sharp cutting 

 edges. In the upper jaw there are eight, in 

 the lower six cheek-teeth on each side, but 

 some of these drop out as the animal increases 

 in age. The peculiar structure of these teeth 

 we have already described (p. 180). The 

 grinding surface is tubular in section. The 

 thick skin is sparsely covered with stiff hairs, 

 which are rather longer on the belly and legs 

 than on the other parts. 



The aard-vark preys on ants and termites. 

 Like the other ant-eaters it burrows in the 

 mounds of these insects and shoots out its 

 tongue among the ants swarming in the 

 galleries. It pays no heed to bites or stings, 

 and when it has got its sticky tongue suffi- 

 ciently loaded with insects it withdraws it to 



