168 GREAT ANT-EATER. 



much above the foot: the tail is black, extremely 

 long and bushy : the hair on the whole body, but 

 especially on the tail, is very harsh and coarse : 

 there are four toes on the fore feet, and five on 

 the hind ; the two middle claws of the fore feet 

 are extremely large and strong; which render this 

 creature, though destitute of teeth, a very for- . 

 midable adversary; since it has been known to 

 destroy animals of much greater apparent strength 

 than itself; fixing its claws upon them, and ex- 

 erting such powerful strength as to kill them by 

 continued laceration and pressure. It is a native 

 of Brasil and Guiana : it is chiefly a nocturnal ani- 

 mal, and is said to sleep during the greatest part 

 of the day in retired places. Its pace is some- 

 what slow, and its manners dull and heavy. It 

 is said to swim with ease; at which time it flings 

 its tail over its back. A living specimen was 

 some years ago brought into Spain, and kept in 

 the Royal Menagerie at Madrid : in this state of 

 confinement it would readily eat raw meat cut 

 small, and was said to swallow four or five pounds 

 in a day. Its length was six feet, from the nose 

 to the end of the tail, and its height was two 

 feet. The specimen in the Leverian Museum is 

 of superior size, and is commemorated by Mr. 

 Pennant, in his History of Quadrupeds, as being 

 the largest specimen he ever heard of. Its di- 

 mensions, however, do not seem to exceed those 

 of a skin preserved in the British Museum, and 

 which once belonged to that of the Royal So- 

 ciety. A beautiful figure of the Leverian sped- 



