Hiftory of ANIMALS* 
533 
M A N I S. 
T H E body of the Manis is covered with a kind of fcales; there are no ears. 
Of this Angular genus there is only one known fpecies, which has been con¬ 
founded with the lizards. 
Manis. 3£i)c fcalp fUjaro. 
This is a creature of great beauty, and perhaps one of the moft lingular in the 
world j it's afped has a great fhew of terror, but it is the moft inoffenfive creature 
imagnable, having neither inclination, nor the leaft power, of doing hurt, and feeding 
only on the fmalleft infeds. 
It is in form fomewhat like the lizard, but not all fo in any other refpedt, and it’s 
covering is of the moft extraordinary kind imaginable. It is about four feet in length, 
and it’s body in the broadeft part, which is toward the hinder legs, is about ten inches 
in breadth ; it is of a rounded figure on the back : the legs are ftiort, they ftand at 
about a foot diftance j the reft of the creature, from the hinder part to the extremity, 
is a tail broad, thin, and between two and three feet in length ; it is not connected 
to the hinder part of the body, as in the generality of quadrupeds, but is continuous 
with it. 
The head is fmall, of a conic figure, about three inches in diameter at the bafe, 
and thence gradually growing fmaller to the fnout, which is fharp and naked; the reft 
of the head is covered with the fame fort of fcales with thofe of the-body, only they 
are fmaller : the eyes are moderately large; there are no ears, nor are there any teeth 
in the mouth, but the tongue is ten inches, or more, in length, flefhy, a little flatted, 
of the thicknefs of a child’s finger, and pointed at the end. 
The whole upper furface of the creature, the back, and the outfides of the legs 
are covered with an armature of fcales: the belly and the infides of the legs are 
naked ; the fcales are of a firm fubftance, and have very much the appearance of tor- 
toite-fhell; they are, on the body, two inches in length, more than an inch in breadth, 
and of an oval figure, and each terminates in a kind of fpine: the bafe is deeply ftri- 
ated, and thefe lines are continued three fourths of the length of the fcale, but the 
reft is fmooth, and of a natural polifh. The whole creature is of a brown colour ; 
the ftriated part of the fcales is of a red dufky brown, the fmooth polifhed part has 
an admixture of yellow : the fides of the body, and yet more thofe of the tail, are of 
a ferrated form, the fcales terminating one over another at fome diftance: the legs are 
fhort, but very robuft, and the claws are very remarkably ftrong and thick. 
This is a native both of the Eaft Indies and South America, but it is lefs frequent 
in the latter. It lives in the woods, and as it’s legs raife it very little from the ground, 
and it’s colour is that of decayed leaves, and the fcales with which it is covered have 
alfo the fhape of them j it has very little to diftinguifh it, among thofe remains with 
which the ground is ftrewed in forefts, unlefs when in motion. It feeds on infeds as 
the ant-bear does, and takes them in the fame manner, thrufting out it’s tongue, till 
covered with them, and then drawing it in loaded with the food. Bontius, Clufius, 
and others call it Lacertus fquammofus. I purchafed two very perfed fpecimens of it, 
the one in spirits, the other dried at the late Duke of Richmond’s fale, and from thefe 
the figure in the adjoining table has been made. 
6 U 
QUADRUPEDS. 
