352 A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



apple, and I often felt inclined to taste it, but was informed it was 

 very bad to eat; however the ubiquitous and omnivorous pigs 

 devour it when fallen. It is the largest of the Solanacea that I 

 observed. Solanaceous trees are rare. 



The Guara is an animal of the campos ; it does not inhabit 

 the forests. Its usual haunt is those parts of the prairies where 

 numerous little bushes grow out of the grass ; and during the day 

 it shelters in the shrubs. Owing to its timid habits and avoidance 

 of human habitations, I can only suppose that it visited our camp 

 — some two miles from the nearest village — on the first night, 

 when we had all retired, in search of our chickens. On our 

 making a disturbance, it was so frightened that it never reappeared. 

 None of my men saw it, but heard its cry, and then, after a short 

 time, its footsteps round about the tent. 



Edentata. 



The edentates (or toothless) are the lowest order of mono- 

 delphous mammals. The class is represented by three groups, 

 which exist solely in South America — the ant-eaters, armadillos, 

 and sloths ; while in the Old World the scaly ant-eaters {Manidcg) 

 of Asia and Africa, and the aardvark, complete the number of 

 existing families of this peculiar order. 



Ant-eaters {Myrmecophagidm). 



M. Liais states that " to this family the name edentate really 

 applies, owing to the total absence of teeth." 

 There are three species — 



1. Mymecophaga jubata,\Jv!m. ; Tamanoir, Buffon ; Tamandua 

 bandeira. Tamandua is the Indian name for the genus ; bandeira 

 means " flag " or " standard " in Portuguese. This refers to its 

 tail. I have a very fine bushy tail of a specimen killed in the 

 valley of the Para. It is a yard long, and each hair is from ten 

 to twelve inches in length. 



2. M. teiradaciyla, Linn. ; M. tamandua, of Desmarest ; 

 Tamandua, Bufifon ; T. mirim, or small tamandua. 



3. M. didactyla, Linn. ; Fourmelier, Buffon. 



M. Liais gives a long and interesting account of the anatomy 



