318 
MAMMALIA. 
Its food consists of Ants, or rather Termites , insects which are 
commonly designated by the name of White Ants, on account of 
their resemblance to very large 'specimens of the race. It is well 
known that these Termites live enclosed in a mound of earth 
in the form of a dome. The Aard-vark, squatting down by 
the side of it, scratches till an entrance is effected through 
the walls, and immediately legions of the insects rush out to 
defend their habitation. Without losing a moment, the quadruped 
darts out its tongue, which is covered with a viscous humour, 
into the midst of the restless crowd, and then draws it back 
covered with the victims. 
This exclusive description of food communicates to the flesh a 
strongly acidulated taste, nevertheless the Hottentots and the 
colonists at the Cape of Good Hope are partial to it, and hunt 
these animals. A slight blow on the head with a stick is sufficient 
to kill it. The Aard-vark is met with not only at the Cape of 
Good Hope, but also in Abyssinia and Senegambia. 
The Ant-eaters ( Myrmecophaga , Linn.) feed upon a variety of 
insects, and thus are better off than the last-named animal. It is 
specially organised for procuring this food. Completely destitute 
of teeth, the head is terminated by an elongated tube, which 
encloses a very long and extensile tongue, something like a 
worm, which issues forth through a small orifice placed at the 
extremity of its scabbard-like head. This slender and flexible 
tongue, being darted into the Ant-hills, all the interstices where 
the insects take refuge yield numerdus victims, which adhere 
to it through the gummy secretion with which it is covered. To 
conclude the description of the Ant-eaters, we must add that they 
are armed with sharp claws, useful both as instruments for scratch- 
ing and weapons of defence. 
The most remarkable species of the family is the Great Ant- 
eater ( Myrmecophaga jubata ), Fig. 125, the largest of the 
family, and even of the Edentated Order. It attains to more 
than a yard and a half in length, from the tip of its muzzle to the 
junction of its tail. Its coat is rough, abundant, and of a darkish 
colour. The tail, covered with very long and extremely bushy 
hair, has the power of being raised like a plume, and is more 
than a yard in length. The strength of this animal is so consider- 
