THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
ground. In this covered way thousands are perpetually 
passing and repassing; and if you destroy part of it, they 
turn to, and immediately repair it 
Other species of Ants again have no covered way; but 
travel, exposed to view, upon the surface of the earth. 
You will sometimes see a string of these Ants a mile long, 
each carrying in its mouth to its nest a green leaf, the size 
of a sixpence. It is wonderful to observe the order in which 
they move, and with what pains and labour they surmount 
the obstructions of the path. 
The Ants have their enemies, as well as the rest of ani- 
mated nature. Amongst the foremost of these stand the 
three species of Ant-bears. The smallest is not much larger 
than a rat; the next is nearly the size of a fox; and the 
third a stout and powerful animal, measuring above six 
feet from the snout to the end of the tail. He is the most 
inoffensive of all animals, and never injures the property 
of man. He is chiefly found in the inmost recesses of the 
forest, and seems partial to the low and swampy parts near 
creeks, where the Troely tree grows. There he goes up 
and down in quest of Ants, of which there is never the 
least scarcity; so that he soon obtains a sufficient supply of 
food, with very little trouble. He cannot travel fast; man 
is superior to him in speed. Without swiftness to enable 
him to escape from his enemies, without teeth, the posses- 
sion of which would assist him in self-defence, and without 
the power of burrowing in the ground, by which he might 
conceal himself from his pursuers, he still is capable of 
ranging through these wilds in perfect safety; nor does he 
fear the fatal pressure of the serpent’s fold, or the teeth of 
the famished Jaguar. Nature has formed his fore-legs won- 
derfully thick, and strong, and muscular, and armed his 
feet with three tremendous sharp and crooked claws. 
Whenever he seizes an animal with these formidable wea- 
pons, he hugs it close to his body, and keeps it there till 
it dies through pressure, or through want of food. Nor 
does the Ant-bear, in the mean time, suffer much from loss 
of aliment, as it is a well-known fact, that he can go 
longer without food than, perhaps, any other animal, ex- 
cept the land tortoise. His skin is of a texture that perfectly 
resists the bite of a dog; his hinder parts are protected by 
thick and shaggy hair, while his immense tail is large 
enough to cover his whole body. 
Examine a figure of this animal, in books of natural histo- 
ry, or inspect a stuffed specimen in the best museums, and 
you will see that the fore-claws are just in the same forward 
attitude, as those of a dog, or a common bear, when he 
walks or stands. But this is a distorted and unnatural 
position; and, in life, would be a painful and intolerable 
attitude for the Ant-bear. The length and curve of his 
claws cannot admit of such a position. When he walks or 
stands, his feet have somewhat the appearance of a club- 
hand. He goes entirely on the outer side of his fore-feet, 
which are quite bent inwards; the claws collected into a 
point, and going under the foot. In this position he is 
quite at ease; while his long claws are disposed of in a 
manner to render them harmless to him, and are prevented 
from becoming dull and worn, like those of the dog, which 
would inevitably be the case, drd their points come in ac- 
tual contact with the ground; for his claws have not that 
retractile power which is given to animals of the feline 
species, by which they are enabled to preserve the sharp- 
ness of their claws on the most flinty path. A slight in- 
spection of the fore-feet of the Ant-bear, will immediately 
convince you of the mistake artists and naturalists have 
fallen into, by putting his fore-feet in the same position as 
that of other quadrupeds; for you will perceive that the 
whole outer side of his foot is not only deprived of 
hair, but is hard and callous; proof positive of its being 
in perpetual contact with the ground. Now, on the con- 
trary, the inner side of the bottom of his foot is soft and 
rather hairy. 
There is another singularity in the anatomy of the Ant- 
bear, I believe, as yet unnoticed in the page of natural 
history. He has two very large glands situated below the 
root of the tongue. From these is emitted a glutinous 
liquid, with which his long tongue is lubricated when he 
puts into the ants’ nests. These glands are of the same 
substance as those found in the lower jaw of the wood- 
pecker. The secretion from them, when wet, is very 
clammy and adhesive, but, on being dried, it loses these 
qualities, and you can pulverize it betwixt your finger and 
thumb; so that, in dissection, if any of it has got upon the 
fur of the animal, or the feathers of the bird, allow it to 
dry there, and then it may be removed without leaving 
the least stain behind. 
The Ant-bear is a pacific animal. He is never the first 
to begin the attack. His motto maybe, “Noli me tan- 
gere.” As his habits and his haunts differ materially from 
those of every other animal in the forest, their interests 
never clash, and thus he might live to a good old age, and 
die at last in peace, were it not that his flesh is good food. 
On this account, the Indian wages perpetual war against 
him, and as he cannot escape by flight, he falls an easy 
prey to the poisoned arrow, shot from the Indian’s bow at 
a distance. If ever he be closely attacked by dogs, he 
immediately throws himself on his back, and if he be for- 
tunate enough to catch hold of his enemy with his tremen- 
dous claws, the invader is sure to pay for his rashness 
with the loss of life. — Waterton. 
