ACULEATED ANT-EATER. 175 
of an hundred pounds^ and to have a long head 
and tongue: if it fastens its fore feet into the 
ground, the strongest man cannot pull it away : it 
has four claws on the fore feet; feeds on ants, and 
burrows under ground, coming out chiefly by 
night to feed. 
Some have been inclined to form a distinct ge- 
nus from this species, under the title of Oryctero- 
pus; but this seems perfectly unnecessary, it be- 
ing a genuine Myrmecophaga. 
It is possible that the disputed figures in Seba^ 
mentioned under the article Myrmecophaga tri- 
dactyl a, may belong to this species. 
ACULEATED ANT-EATER. 
Myrmecoph'aga Aculeata. M. aculeata) cauda bre'vissima. Vi- 
varium Nature, tab, 1 09. 
Spiny Ant-Eater, with very short tail. 
Porcupine Ant-Eater. Naturalist' s Miscellany, pi, 109. 
Aculeated Ant-Eater. Pennant ^adr, 2. /. 262. 
The Aculeated Ant-Eater is one of those cu- 
rious animals which have been lately discovered 
in the vast island, or rather continent, of Austra- 
lasia or New Holland; and is a striking instance 
of that beautiful gradation, so frequently observed 
in the animal kingdon, by which creatures of one 
tribe or genus approach to those of a very differ- 
ent one. It forms a connecting link between 
the very distant Linnaean genera of Hystrix (Por- 
cupine) and Myrmecophaga (Ant-Eater), having 
