roots, fallen fruits, and other soft vegetable substances; but they will feed on carrion when it falls in their way; and greedily devour worms, small lizards and serpents, the eggs of birds which build upon the ground, and also (it is believed) ants. Those which live near the Pampas, glut themselves on the half-putrid carcases of the wild cattle, which are slaughtered for the sake of their skins and tallow; and becoming extremely fat upon this diet, they are esteemed great delicacies (roasted whole in their shells), not only by the Indians, but also by the Spanish and Portuguese Americans. Numerous other species exist; but they are all confined to South America. The largest at present existing is the Great Armadillo, which inhabits Brazil and the Northern parts of Paraguay; this, although 3 feet 3 inches from the nose to the origin of the tail, must have been a pigmy in comparison with the gigantic Glyptodon, a fossil species, of whose armour a nearly complete specimen is contained in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, London.

248. In South America, also, is found another very remarkable animal, named the Chlamyphorus truncatus, or Pichiciago; in which several characters of different tribes are remarkably blended. Like the Armadillo, it has a tesselated shield; the consistence of which is not bony, however, being between horn and leather. This shield commences on the head, and extends over the back and haunches, dipping abruptly down over the latter, so as to look as if the body were cut off there (whence the specific name of the animal is derived); it is divided by intersecting furrows into a series of bands or strips, each of which is made up of a row of square plates; but instead of being firmly attached by its whole under-surface to the integuments beneath (as is the case with that of the Armadillo), it is connected with the back only by a ridge of skin along the spine, and with the skull by two bony prominences from the forehead. The sides and under surface of the body are covered with fine silky hair, like that of the Mole; to which animal it bears a strong resemblance also, in the form of its fore-feet, in the imperfection of its eyes (which are not visible externally), in the conical form of its snout, and in its general habits of life. It is

FAMILY LORICATA; ORYCTEROPUS.-TRUE EDENTata. 281

a native of Chili, where, like a Mole, it works out galleries in the rich soil of the valleys, living for the most part under ground in quiet seclusion, and feeding upon the insects, worms, and larvæ which it meets with in its mining operations. It is a very rare animal, being regarded by the natives themselves as a curiosity.

249. The only known species of this group which is found elsewhere than in South America, is the Orycteropus, of the Cape of Good Hope; which is termed by the Dutch Colonists Aard-vark, or Earth-hog. This animal, which is about the size of a Badger, connects the preceding group with the toothless Ant-Eaters; having the molar teeth and strong digging forefeet of the Armadillos; but being destitute of their scaly armour, and possessing the hairy covering and long extensible tongue of the true Ant-eaters. The Aard-vark is insectivorous in its habits,-attacking the large ant-hills of the districts it inhabits, by tearing open the roofs of the mud-walled hillocks which these insects construct; and it forms very extensive burrows at a little distance beneath the surface of the ground, which are sometimes so numerous, as to become sources of danger to horses and waggons traversing the country. When alarmed in its retreat, it mines onwards with such rapidity, as frequently to elude the search of those who would dig it out.

250. Of the TRUE EDENTATA, or toothless Ant-eaters, which constitute the second family of the insectivorous division of this order, there are two genera,-the Myrmecophaga, or proper Ant-eater of South America,-and the Manis or Pangolin of Africa and India. Both these are characterised by the total absence of teeth, by the pointed form of the muzzle and the narrowness of the mouth, by the possession of a long, slender, extensible tongue, which is moistened by an extremely viscid saliva, and by strong feet armed with sharp cutting claws. These last are adapted rather for tearing open the dwellings of the Termites, or White Ants, on which these animals feed, than for excavating burrows in the soil; when an entrance has been thus forced, the long tongue is sent down in the nest, and, when withdrawn, brings back into the mouth a large number of Ants,

which are glued to its surface by the secretion that covers it. The Ant-eaters and Pangolins differ completely, however, in

external aspect, and in

of

the nature of their covering; though they are both furnished with very efficient means defence against the Insects on which they make war. For, in the Ant-Eater, the whole body is covered with long shaggy hair, which forms a kind of mane along the back; and its tail, which is carried erect, is very bushy. In the Pangolin, (Fig. 49,) on

the other hand, the whole body, as well as the tail, is covered with dense horny scales, which have an imbricated arrangement

(each row being partly covered by the rest, like the tiles on a roof); and when attacked, it rolls itself up into a ball, wraps its tail over its head, and raises all its pointed and sharp-edged scales in such array, as to defy the onset of any enemy. There is a

ORDER RUMINANTIA ;-GENERAL CHARACTERS.

283

small species of Ant-Eater, inhabiting the forests of Guiana and Brazil, which is remarkable for having only two toes on the fore-foot, and for possessing a prehensile tail, by which it can. suspend itself from the branches of trees, in the bark and fissures of which it seeks the insects that serve for its food.

ORDER IX.-RUMINANTIA.

251. The division of the herbivorous Mammalia, which is designated by the title of Ruminant, forms a remarkably natural and well-defined order; by which is meant, that all the animals composing it agree in their most important characters, and differ from all those of other orders; so that there can be no doubt in regard to the position of any one of them. They seem, indeed, as if they were all constructed upon the same model,the variations being often so trifling, that it is difficult to assign definite characters to the subordinate groups. The Camels alone constitute an exception to this general statement; for these, in the structure of their teeth, and in some other peculiarities, depart from the Ruminant type, and exhibit an approach to the order Pachydermata; but in this manner they form just that bond of connexion between the two orders, which allied groups, that are really natural, always present.

252. The animals of this group are, of all the Herbivora, those which are most completely restricted to vegetable food. We have seen that among the Rodentia, there are many which do not reject animal food, and some which greedily devour it. Of the Edentata, a large proportion live on insects; and many of these also devour animal flesh with avidity. Among the Pachydermata, too, there are several species (as we shall hereafter see), to which an animal diet appears by no means unnatural. But this is not the case with a single Ruminant quadruped; for the whole order seems destined to feed upon vegetable matter, and upon this exclusively. Some, as the Camel and Giraffe, are adapted rather for browzing upon the

leaves and young shoots of trees or shrubs; whilst the great proportion have their mouths fitted for grazing upon the herbage that covers the surface of the soil.

253. All the animals of this order agree in the absence of incisor teeth from the upper jaws,—the hardened gum sustaining the pressure of the lower incisors (which are apparently eight in number) with their broad edges. Of these teeth, however, the two outer ones, which are usually smaller than the rest and more oblique in their position, are really to be regarded as canines, somewhat modified in their form; this is evident in the Camels, in which these teeth have the ordinary form and size of canines. The molar teeth are six on either side of each jaw. Their surface exhibits crescent-shaped ridges, formed by enamel surrounding a centre of bony matter or cortical substance (ANIM. PHYSIOL., § 182). In the Camels, there are apparently five molars on each side; but a sixth molar really exists, although it is shaped like a canine tooth, and is placed immediately behind the true canine, far in front of the other molars, so as to resemble a second canine. The Camels are further remarkable for possessing canine and incisor teeth in the upper jaw; the latter are originally four in number; but the two central ones fall out early, and those which remain resemble the canines in figure. In the Musk-Deer, too, there are canines of considerable length in the upper jaw, though the incisors are absent; and the presence of canines in the upper jaw is by no means unfrequent among the males of the ordinary Ruminants,-their rudiments being also discoverable in the female.

254. The structure of the feet of the Ruminantia varies no more than that of the teeth; and where, as in the Camel tribe, we find a departure from the usual type as to the latter, we may notice it also in regard to the former. The feet are invariably terminated by two toes, whose extremities are enveloped in distinct hoofs; and the surfaces of these hoofs, which look towards each other, are so flattened, that the appearance is that of a single cleft hoof. Each toe has three phalangeal bones; and these are articulated with a single long metatarsal or canonbone. Besides the two large or true toes, there are two small