M Y R 
M Y R 
449 
point. The fore-feet have four toes; the hind ones, five ; 
and the claws on all the feet are very ftrong. This fpe- 
cies inhabits the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good 
Hope, where it lives under ground, and is called by the 
name of the ground-hog. It feeds principally on ants. 
It is laid to be often hunted out of its retreats by the 
Hottentots, who confider it as a good food. It is fiiid by 
Kolbe to be of the weight of an hundred pounds, and to 
have a long head and tongue. If it fallens its fore-feet 
into the ground, the ftrongeft 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. 
Euffon, having formerly afl'erted that none of the 
South-American animals were found in the continent of 
Africa, and that none of the African ones were to be 
found in South America, thinks proper, in his fupplemen- 
tal volume, to maintain his former dogma, and is not 
willing to confider this fpeeies as a genuine ant-eater, 
though it poflefl'es the ufual charadter, viz. mouth with¬ 
out teeth; of a long form ; and a long retradlile tongue. 
Some, however, have been inclined to form a diftindt 
genus from this fpeeies, under the title of Orydleropus; 
“ but this (fays Dr. Shaw) feems perfedtly unnecefl'ary, 
it being a genuine Myrmecophaga.” It is poflible that 
the difputed figures in Seba, mentioned under the M. 
tridadtyla, may belong to this fpeeies. 
7. Myrmecophaga aculeata, the aculeated or porcupine 
ant-eater: body covered with long lharp fpines; tail 
fliort. The aculeated ant-eater is one of thofe curious 
animals which have been lately difeovered in the vaft 
ifland, or rather continent, of Auftralafia or New Hol¬ 
land ; and is a ftriking inftance of that beautiful grada¬ 
tion, fo frequently obferved in the animal kingdom, by 
which creatures of one tribe or genus approach to thole 
of a very different one. It forms a connedting link be¬ 
tween the very diftant Linnasan genera of Hyllrix (por¬ 
cupine) and Myrmecophaga (ant-eater), having the ex¬ 
ternal coating and general appearance of the one, with 
the mouth and peculiar generic charadlers of the other. 
This animal, fo far as may be judged from the fpecimens 
hitherto imported, is about a foot in length. The whole 
■upper parts of the body and tail are thickly coated with 
ftrong and very lharp fpines, of a confiderable length, and 
perfectly refembling thofe of a porcupine, except that 
they are thicker in proportion to their length ; and that, 
inftead of being encircled or annulated with feveral alter¬ 
nate rings of black and white, as in that animal, they are 
moftly of a yellowilh-white with black tips ; the colour 
running down to feme little diftance on the quill, and 
being feparated from the white part by a circle of dull 
orange: others have but a very flight appearance of 
black towards the tips. The head, legs, and whole under 
parts of the body, are of a deep brown, or fable, and are 
thickly coated with ftrong clofe-fet briftly hair. The tail 
is extremely fhort, flightly flattened at the tip, and coated 
on the upper part of the bafe with fpines, at leaft equal 
in length to thofe of the back, and pointing perpendicu¬ 
larly upwards. The fnout is long and tubular, and per¬ 
fectly refembles in ftrudture that of the M. jubata, or 
great ant-eater; having only a very fmall opening at 
the tip, from whence is protruded a long lumbriciform 
tongue, as in other ant-eaters. The noffrils are fmall, 
and feated at the extremity of the fnout. The eyes are 
very fmall and black, with a pale blue iris. The legs are 
very fliort and thick ; and are each furniflied with five 
rounded broad toes -. on the fore-feet are five very-ftrong, 
long, and blunt, claw's, of a black colour : on the hind- 
feet are only four claws ; the thumb, which is broader 
than the reft of the toes, being deftitute of a claw: the 
firff claw on the hind-feet is extremely long, fomewhat 
curved, and {harp-pointed; the next rather Ihorter, but 
of fimilar appearance ; the two remaining ones far Ihorter, 
very flightly curved, and not fliarp-pointed. In its mode 
of life this animal refembles the reft of the ant-eaters, 
VoL. XVI. No. 117.6. 
being generally found in the midft of fome large ant-hill: 
it burrows with great ftrength and celerity under ground, 
when dillurbed ; its feet and legs being rnoft exceffiveiy 
ftrong, and fliort, and. wonderfully adapted to this pur- 
pofe. It will even burrow under a pretty ftrong pave¬ 
ment, removing the ftones with its claws ; or under the 
bottom of a wall. During tliefe exertions its body is 
ftretched or lengthened to an uncommon degree, and 
appears very different from the fliort or plump afpedl 
which it bears in its undifturbed Hate. 
The anatomy of this curious animal is given by Mr. 
Everard Home, in the Phil. Tranf. for i8os, under the 
name of Ornithorhynchus hyftrix, from its refemblance, 
in fome particulars, to a lingular animal then lately im¬ 
ported from New Holland, and called O. paradoxus, but 
now Platytus anatinus, (w'hich fee.) This creature is 
by no means, as the generic character requires, without 
teeth ; for Mr. Home obferves, that “ on the pofterior 
part of the tongue, which is thicker and broader than 
the reft, there is a fpace, one inch in length and three 
quarters broad, covered with a ftrong cuticle, and having 
about twenty fmall teeth, blunt at their ends, projecting 
about one-tenth of an inch ; there are alfo feveral others, 
lefs prominent: and on that part of the palate immediately 
oppofite, there are feven tranfverfe rows of very {lender 
horny teeth, with their points directed backwards ; each 
row looks fomewhat like a fmall-toothed comb, laid flat 
upon the palate.” Mr. Home found fome fine white 
fand in the inteftines ; whence he fuppofes that a quantity 
of that fubftance is always fwallowed with the food, and 
that the ftomach is therefore fufficiently large to contain 
both the food and the extraneous matter accompanying 
it. Dr. Shaw, in his Naturalift’s Mifcellany and General 
Zoology, referred it to this genus, and gave a reprefenta- 
tion of it, which is copied at fig. 5. 
MYRME'LEON, f. the Lion-Ant; in entomology, 
a genus of infefts of the order neuroptera. Generic Cha¬ 
racters-—Mouth furniflied with jaws ; teeth two; feelers 
four or fix, elongated; (lemmata none; antennae clavated, 
length of thorax ; wings deflected ; tail of the male fur¬ 
niflied with a forceps confifting of two ftraightifti fila¬ 
ments. 
Of the lion-ant, concerning which fo much has been 
faid by naturalifts, there are fixteen fpeeies, all diftinguifh- 
ed by an uncommon voracity, and cunning in fecuring 
their prey. Their habits of rapacity feem born with 
them ; and during their whole lives they are fupported 
by the game which they catch. At firfl fight, tliefe ani¬ 
mals feem but ill fitted for their manner of life: the 
moft unwieldly infeCt can eafily efcape from them ; for 
they cannot advance upon it a Angle ftep, though they 
have fix legs; all its progrefs in walking being back¬ 
wards; by ftratagem, however, this lion mafters infeCts 
far fuperior to it in ftrength. In the loofe fand it digs a 
hollow refembling a funnel, where it takes its ftation at 
the bottom, every part being concealed except the for¬ 
ceps with which the head is armed. This inftrument, 
which it can open or (hut at pleafure, is happily con- 
ftruCted for feizing and penetrating the hardelt infeCt; 
and unhappy is the animal, who, in purluing its journey. 
Humbles into this cavern. In vain it endeavours to 
fcramble up by the edges, which are continually giving 
way under its feet; it tumbles to the bottom, where it is 
pierced by the forceps of the lion-ant lurking below. If 
the infedl be fmall, and the grains of fand, notwithftand- 
ing the declivity of the funnel, do not give way under its 
feet, the myrmeleon has another invention by which he 
renders himfelf mafter of his prey: with his head, which 
is flattened, he throw's up repeated ftiowers of fand from 
the bottom of the funnel, which falling upon the fides, 
force dowm the infedl till it comes within reach. The 
fatal inftruments with which this animal feizes its prey, 
are each a fort of mouth or trunk, by which it fucks out 
the whole entrails before it is drawn out of the body. 
When the lion-ant has attained its full fize, it con- 
5 Y ftrudts 
