1. The Great Ant-Enter (M. jubata, Linn.), called Tamandua by the Portuguese, and Ant-Bear by the English and Spaniards, is a large animal which measures, when full grown, four feet and a half from the extremity of the snout to the origin of the taiL The tail itself is 3 feet 3 inches in length, reckoning to the extremity of the hair, or measured only along the stump, 2 feet 4 inches ; the head, 131 inches from the snout to the base of the ear, mid 101 inches to the anterior angle of the eye; its circumference immediately before the eyes, where it is the thickest, is 14 inches, but from this part it gradually dimiuishes to the end of the muzzle, where it measures only 51 inches. The height of the animal at the shoulder is 3 feet 3 inches, and at the croup only 2 feet 10 inches, because, being perfectly plantigrade, it necessarily stands lower on the hind legs than before, as may be observed in the common bear, the badger, and other species which partake of the plantigrade formation of the extremities. The car is short and round, being an inch and a qtrarter broad at the base, and only an inch in length ; the eye is remarkably small, deeply mink in the head, and with a naked eyelid ; the head and snout, as already observed, nre prolonged to a remarkable degree; they are in form almost cylindrical, and end in a small truncated muzzle, having the nostrils and mouth placed at its extreme end ; the latter is so small that its whole width scarcely exceeds an inch, and the jaws are of equal length. The tongue is almost cylindrical, fleshy, extremely flexible, and capable of being protruded to the distance of 16 or 18 inches. The toes of the anterior extremities, four in number, are of unequal length, the innermost being the smallest and weakest of all ; the second measures 2i inches in length, and is provided with a powerful crooked claw nearly 2 inches long, sharp-pointed, and tren chant on its under surface ; the third, which is the largest of all, has a similar claw 21 inches in length ; and the fourth, or exterior toe, is provided with a smaller and weaker claw, like that of the innermost. All these claws, when in a state of repose, are kept bent inwards, and only extended, or rather half-extended (for the animal cannot open the fingers 'farther), when used for defence, or for breaking through the hard external crust of the ant-hills.
The prevailing colour ©n the head, face, and cheeks of the Ant-Bear is a mixture of gray and brown ; that on the upper parts of the body and tail is a deep brown, mixed with silvery-white. A broad black band, bordered on each aide with a similar one of a white or light grayish-brown colour, commences on the chest, and passes obliquely over each shoulder, diminishing gradually as it approaches the loins, where it ends in a point. The sides, arms, and thighs arc silvery-gray, with a slight mixture of brown, marked with two deep black spots, one on the carpus, and the other on the toes ; the hind-legs are almost perfectly black, and the breast and belly of a deep brown, almost equally obscure.
The habits of the Great Ant-Bear are slothful and solitary ; the greater part of his life is consumed in sleeping, notwithstanding which ho is never fat, and rarely even in good condition. When about to sleep, he lies upon one side, conceals his long snout in the fur of the breast, locks the hind and fore claws into one another, so as to cover the head and belly, and turns his long bushy tail over the whole body in such a manner as to protect it from the too powerful rays of the sun. The female bears but a single young one at a birth, which attaches itself to her back, and is carried about with her wherever she goes, rarely quitting her, even for a year after it has acquired sufficient strength to walk and provide for itself This unprolific constitution, and the tardy growth of the young, account for the comparative rarity, of these animals, which are said to be seldom seen, even in their native regions. The female has only two mammas, situated on the breast, like those of apes, monkeys, and bats.
In its natural state the lives exclusively upon ants, to procure which it opens their hills with its powerful crooked claws, and at the moment that the insects, according to their nature, flock from all quarters to defend their dwellings, draws over them his long flexible tongue, covered with glutinous saliva, to which they conse quently adhere ; and so quickly does he repeat this operation, that we are assured he will thus project his tongue and draw it in again covered with insects twice in a second. Ho never actually introduces it into the holes or breaches which he makes in the hills themselves, but only draws it lightly over the swarms of insects which issue forth alarmed by his attack. "It seems almost incredible," says Azara, "that so robust and powerful an animal can procure sufficient suste nance from ants alone ; but this circumstance has nothing strange in it for those who are acquainted with the tropical parts of America, and who have seen the enormous multitudes of these insects, which swarm in all parts of the country, to that degree that their hills often almost touch one another for miles together." The samo author informs us, that domestic Ant-Bears were occasionally kept by different persons in Paraguay, and that they had even been sent alive to Spain, being fed upon bread and milk, mixed with morsels of flesh minced very smalL Like all animals which live upon insects, they arc capable of sustaining a total deprivation of nourishment for an almost incredible time.
The Great Ant-Bear is found in all the warm and tropical parts of ,South America, from Colombia to Paraguay, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes. llis favourite resorts are the low swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds, also frequenting the humid forests, but never climbing trees, as falsely reported by Buffo'', on the authority of Laborde. His pace is slow, heavy, and vacillating ; his head is carried low, as if he smelled the ground at every step, whilst his long shaggy tail, drooping behind him, sweeps the ground ou either side, and readily indicates his path to the hunter ; though, when hard pressed, ho increases his pace to a kind of slow gallop, yet his greatest velocity never half equals the ordinary running of a man. So great is his stupidity, that those who encounter him in the woods or plains may drive him before them by merely pushing him with a stick, so long at least as he is not compelled to proceed beyond a moderate gallop; but if pressed too bard, or urged to extremity, he turns obstinate, sits up on his hind quarters like a bear, and defends himself with his powerful claws. Like that animal, his usual and indeed only mode of assault is by seizing his adversary with his fore-paws, wrapping his arms round him, and endeavouring by this means to squeeze bin, to death. His great strength and powerful muscles would easily enable him to accomplish his purpose in this respect, even against the largest animals of his native forests, were it but guided by ordinary intelli gence, or accompanied with a common degree of activity. But in these qualities there are few animals indeed which do not greatly surpass the Ant-Bear • so that the different stories handed down by writers ©n natural history from one another, and copied, without question, into the histories and descriptions of this animal, may bo regarded as pure fictions. For this statement we have the express authority of Don Felix d'Azara, an excellent observer and credible writer, from whose 'Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay' we have derived the greater portion of the preceding account of the habits and economy of this extraordinary animal. The flesh of the Ant-Eater is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians and negro slaves, and, though black, and of a strong musky flavour, is sometimes.even met with at the tables of Europeans.