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Show 378 MAMMALS OF SIAM AND THE MALAY PENINSULA. [Apr. 3, Order EDENTATA. Family MANID^E. 160. MANIS JAVANICA Desm. The Malay Scaly Anteater. Manis javanica, Cantor, p. 51 ; Blanf. Faun. Ind., M a m m. p. 599, tig. 199 (p. 600). " Nim " of the Siamese. " Pengoling" or " Pangolin " of the Malays, according to authors. " Tangiling " of the Malays. Cantor records the Manis from Penang and the Peninsula, and says :-" Although numerous in rocky situations, is not often captured, a3 it is seldom abroad till alter sunset. The largest male measured from the apex of the nose to the root of tail one foot nine and a half inches (546 m m . ) ; the tail one foot eight inches (508 mm.)." Ridley (J. S. B. R. A. S. no. 25, 1894, p. 60) records it from Pramau, Pekan, in Pahang; and (Nat. Science, vi. 1895, p. 165) says: "It is frequeutly found in open sandy country, making large burrows in the ground," and remarks on its habits. In the Museum at Taiping there are several specimens from Larut, Perak, and in the Museum at Kuala Lumpor specimens from Selangor. Hanitsch (Rep. Baffles Libr. & Mus. 1898, p. 9) records this species from Singapore. There were three specimens from Siam in the Museum at Bangkok, the largest, as stuffed, was 3 feet 4^ inches (say 1028 mm.) in total length. In April 1896 I saw a female and young one alive in Penang, said to have been just caught in the hills on the island. Mr. F. H. Malcolm Staples told me (Sept. 1897) that he once got an Anleater at Batu Pahat, Johore; they ate it and found it good. In June 1897 I saw the skin of a specimen that had been just killed at Ayuthia, Siam ; this was in a flat alluvial plain, with no rocky hills within many miles. In January 189S we got two specimens at Chantaboon, both caught by natives ; one was brought in alive, but it died in nine days. In M a y 1898 we got a live one in Kedah, which also died in nine days. In each case we could not get them to feed; at night they were turned loose in the lower part of the house (where ants and innumerable other insects abounded), to forage for themselves, but I uever observed them even attempting to eat. They were the least intelligent animals I have ever kept; they wandered about the house a great deal at night, and one we let walk in the garden so as to watch it in the moonlight: they showed no inclination to dig or search for food, but walked on till they came to an obstacle, when they proceeded to climb up it; if, for instance, it was a chair, they climbed on to it, then on to the back, and then fell off the other side, and continued walking as before. The prehensile tail is very difficult to detach once the animal has coiled up round one's arm. |