406 ZOOLOGY, 
fore. When at rest, as well as during motion, the anterior claws of the- 
large Myrmecophaga are bent against the naked sole, on the outer edge of 
which the animal walks. All ant-eaters live in the warmest part of South 
America, west of the Cordilleras, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio de la 
Plata. The great ant-eater, M. jubata (pl. 112, fig. 5), from seven to eight 
feet long, the tail included, is an inhabitant of the forests, and conceals 
itself in a hole under the ground, which it leaves during night in search of 
its food, which consists, as we know, of ants, the small and large termites so 
abundant in South America. The female brings forth only one young, 
which is carried about for a time on the mother’s back. Another species, 
M. didactyla (pl. 112, fig. 4), has only two nails to the fore feet, whence 
its specific appellation. The tail is prehensile. Inhabits the northern part 
of tropical South America, living chiefly on trees, where it procures its 
insect foed. 
Fam. 3. Oryorzropopip#, contains as yet but two genera, one now 
existing, and another extinct. 
The genus Orycteropus, comprising only one living species (O. capensis, 
the Cape ground hog), inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. The head is 
similar to that of the ant-eater, and the tongue somewhat extensile, but 
distinguished from the latter by being furnished with grinders, and by 
having flat nails, formed for digging, not trenchant. The structure of their 
teeth differs from that of all other quadrupeds; they are solid cylinders, 
traversed like reeds, in a longitudinal direction, by numerous little tubes. 
The bedy is covered with short hairs of a brownish grey color. The tail 
is shorter than the body, and covered with equally short hairs. There are 
four toes to the fore feet and five behind. It inhabits burrows, which it 
excavates with great facility. There is a fossil species of this order from 
the Pampas of Brazil, Glossotherium, which was established upon a small 
fragment of bone from the posterior part of the cranium. The size of the 
holes through which the nerves and blood-vessels for the tongue pass, has 
induced the supposition that the tongue was very much developed, and that 
the animal could very likely use it like the ant-eaters. On the other hand, 
the extent of the temporal muscle and the strength of the zygomatic arch, 
seemed to show that the animal could grind, and necessarily had molar teeth. 
For these reasons it has been located in the vicinity of the Orycteropus of 
the present fauna; but more recent investigations have led to the discovery 
that these remains belonged to Megatherium. 
Fam. 4. Dasypopipa, is distinguished among Edentata by the scaly and 
hard shell, formed of divisions resembling little paving stones, which covers 
the head and body, and frequently the tail. This substance forms one 
shield over the forehead, a second, very large and convex, over the shoul- 
ders, a third on the neck, very similar to the second, and between the two 
_latter, several parallel and movable bands, which allow the body to bend. 
The tail is sometimes furnished with successive rings, and at others, like 
the legs, merely with tubercles. 
In the genus Dasypus, or armadilloes, the ears are verylarge. There are 
four, sometimes five, great nails to the fore feet; always five behind. The 
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