174 CAPE ANT-EATER. 



colour of the animal is grey, or like that of a 

 Rabbit, but deeper; and tinged with reddish on 

 the sides and belly: the legs are blackish; the 

 head is of a conic shape ; the nose long, and some- 

 what abruptly blunt at the end like that of a hog : 

 the tongue is very long, flat, and slender : the ears 

 about six inches long; upright (in the dried spe- 

 cimen), and extremely thin : they are also thinly 

 scattered over with fine hairs: the hair on the 

 head and upper parts is short, and lies close or 

 smooth as if glued to the skin ; it is longest and 

 loosest on the sides and legs : the tail is thick at 

 the base, and gradually tapers to a point. The 

 fore feet have four toes; the hind ones, five; and 

 the claws on all the feet are very strong. This 

 species inhabits the neighbourhood of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, where it lives under ground, and is 

 called by the name of the Ground Hog. It feeds 

 principally on ants. It is said to be often hunted 

 out of its retreats by the Hottentots, who consider 

 it as a good food. The description of this ani- 

 mal is given by Mr. Allamand, from a dried skin 

 sent from the Cape ; and he observes, that it is 

 doubtful whether the ears in the living animal are 

 erect or pendent : in a foetus described by Dr. Pal- 

 las*, they were pendent. 



The animal mentioned by Kolbe, in his account 

 of the Cape of Good Hope, seems extremely allied 

 to this, except that it is expressly said to have pen- 

 dent ears. It is said by Kolbe to be of the weight 



* Pallas Miscell. Zool. 64. 



