532 



Marvels of the Universe 





nolo bii] 



THE TRANSFORMATION IN 



When quite young a Flat-fish has the same appearance as the your 

 tion takes place. It gradually leans over till one side becomes the under surface, and 

 neyv position as side-fins. In the photograph the fish (considerably enlarged) is shown in 



FLAT-FISHES. 



J of any other fish, but 



IFIctKers d: Co.^ Lon/jsi<jht. 



raduall 

 he fins on the be 

 ts two stages. 



' a stranRe transforma- 

 ck and belly take up a 



modified and adapted for feeding on ants. In Tropical America we have, for instance, the true or 

 typical Ant-eaters, which form the main subject of this article ; in the warmer parts of Asia and 

 Africa these are replaced by the curious Scaly Ant-eaters, or Pangolins, which look like gigantic, 

 animated spruce-fir cones, and are regarded by many persons as reptiles ; in New Guinea and Aus- 

 tralia the group is represented by the Echidna, or Porcupine Ant-eater, a cousin of the Duck-billed 

 Platypus, which it resembles in laying eggs ; in Australia there is also the little marsupial Banded 

 Ant-eater, of the size of a squirrel ; while Africa is the habitat of the Great Ant-Bears, or Aardvarks, 

 easily recognized by their donkey-like ears and long, thick tails. 



To thrive in the ant-eating line it is essential that a mammal should have powerful claws to 

 dig up the ants' -nests, a long, extensile, and more or less worm-like tongue, coated with a sticky 

 saliva, to lick up the ants themselves as they swarm out when their dwellings are opened, and a 

 tough skin to resist the bite and acid secretion of these ferocious insects. Moreover, ants do not 

 need much biting, and many Ant-eaters, like the typical American group, the Pangolins, 

 and the Echidnas, have accordingly discarded teeth altogether, and developed more or less elongated 

 and tubular toothless jaws. On the other hand, the Australian Banded Ant-eater and the African 

 Ant-Bears have retained teeth. 



Most ant-eating mammals, being more or less harmless and defenceless creatures, either dwell in 

 burrows or are of arboreal habits. Not so the Great Ant-eaters of Tropical America, which are 

 fully as big as large collie dogs, and have enormous flag-like tails, carried in a manner to make them 

 as conspicuous as possible ; for these animals are fully conscious of their great strength and power, 

 which render them dreaded as much as the jaguar by the South American natives. Indeed, if a 

 Great Ant-eater has but once got a man firmlj' gripped in its vice-like hug, there is said to be no 

 chance for the hapless victim. And little wonder, when we remember that, exclusive of its tail. 



