442 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



man would be who had to walk a mile on stilts upon a line of feather-beds." Leaves and wild 

 fruits constitute the principal food of this animal. 



The Coati (JSTasua rufa), in some respects resembles the raccoon, but is of a smaller size ; 

 its legs are shorter and its feet longer ; but like the raccoon, its tail is diversified with rings, al- 

 ternately black and fulvous. Its snout, which is movable in every direction, turns up at a point. 

 The .Agouti (Chloromys acuti), is about the size of a hare ; and as it has the hair of a hog, 



so also it has the voracious appetite of that animal. It eats in- 

 discriminately of all things ; and when satiated, it hides the re- 

 mainder, like the dog or the fox, for a future occasion. Its sight 

 is excellent ; its hearing equals that of any other animal ; and 

 whenever it is whistled to, it stops to hearken. The Ant-cater 

 (Jllyrmecophaga) is a singular animal, with a long snout, -small 

 mouth, and no teeth ; its tongue, of a round form, is remarkably 

 " _ long ; and with it, it catches the ants, which are its principal 



The Agouti. food. On coming to an ant-hill, the animal scratches it up with 



Its claws, and then protudes his slender tongue, which has the appearance of an exceedingly 

 long earth-worm. It is covered with a viscous saliva. To this the ants adhere, and by retracting 



it he swallows thousands of them. There 

 are 3 species of this animal. The smallest, 

 {M. Didaclyla) is not much larger than a 

 rat ; the next, (JM. tamandua) is nearly the 

 size of a fox ; and the third, {M. jubata) a 

 stout and powerful animal, measuring about 

 6 feet from the snout to the end of the tail. 

 The description given above applies chiefly 

 to the last, which is also called the ant bear, 

 from its mode of defence resembling that of 

 the bear. When attacked by a dog, it seizes 

 him between its powerful fore-legs, and 

 squeezes him to death, or strikes severe 

 blows with its strong, sharp claws. The 2 

 last-named species have prehensile or hold- 

 ing tails, and live on trees. The race is peculiar to South America, and is extremely useful in 

 diminishing the countless swarms of ants which infest the country. 



The Armadillo (Dasypus Peba), which is peculiar to this country, is protected by a crust 

 resembling bone, which covers the head, the neck, the back, and the tail, to the very extremi- 

 ty. There are several species of this animal. They are perfectly harmless, and burrow in 

 the sand-hills like rabbits. The Chinchilla {Chinchilla lanigera)^ is a species of field-rat, in 



The Ant-eater. 



The Armadillo. The Chinchilla 



great estimation for the extreme fineness of its wool, if a rich fur as dehcate as the silken webs 

 of the garden spiders may be so termed. It is of an ash-gray, and sufficiently long for spin- 

 ning. The little animal "which produces it is six inches long, from the nose to the root of the 

 tail, with small pointed ears, a short muzzle, teeth like the house-rat, and a tail of moderate 

 length, clothed with a delicate fur. It lives in burrows under ground in the open country of 

 Chili, and other parts of South America. 



