103 SHORT-TAILED BfANIS, AND ARMADILLO, 
is supposed to be their native country. They 
grow to a great length. One preserved in the 
museum of the Royal Society,, London, measured 
from the nose to the tail only fourteen inches ; 
but the tail itself a yard and half a quarter. 
Short-tailed manis, or pangolin 
Has blunt scales, with bristles between them ; 
five toes on each foot ,* a tail longer than the 
body ; and ears not unlike those of the human 
body. It inhabits Formosa, and other islands of 
India ; feeds on lizards and insects ; turns up the 
ground with its nose ; snorts ; grows very fat, and 
is esteemed very delicate eating. 
Mr Pennant thinks that this may also be the 
species of animal, which, Des Marchais says, 
grows to the length of eight feet, of which the 
tail is four. It lives in woods and marshy places 
in Guinea ; feeds on ants and insects, which it 
takes by laying its long tongue, covered with a 
glutinous saliva, across their path. It walks very 
slowly, and would be the prey of every ravenous 
beast, had it not the power of rolling itself up, 
and opposing to its enemy a formidable row of 
erected scales. In vain does even the leopard 
attack it with his vast claws ; for at last he is 
obliged to leave it in safety. It is said to destroy 
the elephant by twisting itself round his trunk, 
and compressing it with its hard scales. The 
negroes reckon its flesh excellent* 
The broad-tailed manis is supposed to be a 
variety either of this or the former species. 
ARMADILLO. 
The armadillo is chiefly an inhabitant of South 
America ; a peaceful, harmless creature, incapable 
