OCR Text |
Show 166 MAMMALIA. always h a1 I~ be n t m• wards' resembling·a callosity of thh e tarsusd; heTnc e · 1 1 b ·1 the amma can on Y r ng the side of the foot to t e groun .. he stomach o f t h e A n t -Eaters is simple and mu. scular towards Its PY· lorus ; t h e1. r m. t es t'lnal canal moderate, and w1thofu t a ccecum.(l) · They a1 1 m· h a b1't the h 0 t and temperate parts• o the w• estern conh· nent, an d pro d uce b u t a s:•n gle young one at a b1rth, winch they carry on their back. M. jubata; Buff. X, x:x.xix, and Su~p. III, Iv .. (The Tarna. · ) More than four feet long, w1th four nails before and no1r. · · 11 d' fi ve b e 11 1·1 1 d., the tail is furnished with lo•n g ha1rs ve•r tica y 1· rected, both above and beneath ; the fur IS of a greyish-brown, with an oblique black band edged with white on each sh~ulder. It is the largest of the Ant-Eaters; and it is asserted that It even defends itself against the Jaguar. It inhabits low places, never climbs trees, and moves slowly. M. tarnandua, Cuv.; M. tetradactyla, and M. tridactyla, L.; Schreb. LXVI. (The Tamandua.) T~e form . and feet ~f the preceding, but not half its size; the tail, on wh1ch the ha~r is short, is prehensile and naked at the end, and enables the am· mal to suspend itself to the branches of trees. Some of them are of a yellowish-grey, with an oblique band on the shoulder that is only visible in a certain light ; others are fawn coloured with a black band ; some are fawn coloured and st~iped, with the croup and belly black; and finally, some are entirely black· ish. Whether these differences are specific or not, is as yet unknown. M. didactyla, L.; Buff. X, xxx. (The Two-toed Ant-Eat~r.) The size of a Rat, with woolly hair, fawn coloured; a red lme along the back; the tail is prehensile, and naked at the end i only two nails before, one of which is very large, four be· hind.(2) MANis, Lin. The Pangolins,(3) or Scaly Ant-Eaters as they are called, are desti· tute of teeth, have a very extensible tongue, and live on Ants and Ter· mites like tru<Ant-Eaters; but their body, limbs and tail are clothed (1) Daubenton has discovered in the M. didactyla two very small appendages, which, in strictness, may be considered as ca::ca. I have ascertained that there are none in the Tamandua. Th (2) The Myrme. tridactyla, L.; Seba, pl. F, is a Tamandua, badly drawn. e M. striata, Shaw, Buff. Supp. liT, pl.lvi, is a Coati, disfigured by the stuffer. , (3) Pangoeling, according to Seba, in the language of Java signifies an ~nun~t1 that rolls itself into a ball. In Bengal, it is called Badjarlcita or Stone Reptile; 1 is also called the Land Carp. The Dutch sailors called it the Devil of Formosa. EDENTATA. 167 with large trenchant scales arranged like tiles, which they elevate in rolling themselves into a ball, when they wish to defend themselves from an enemy. There are five toes to each foot. Their stomach is slightly divided in the middle, and there is no ccecum. They are confined to the eastern continent. M. pentadactyla, L.; M. brac!tyura, Erxl.; Buff. X, xxxiv. (The Short-tailed Pangolin.) Three or four feet long ; the tail shorter than the body. From the East Indies. It is the Pltattagen of JE.lian, lib. xvi, cap. vi. M. tetradactyla, L.; M. rnacroura, Erxl.; Phatagin, Buff. X, xxxiv. (The Long-tailed Pangolin.) Three or four feet in length; the tail double that of the body, and the scales armed with points. From Senegal, Guinea, &c. ( 1) The third tribe of the Edentata comprehends those animals, designated by M. Geoffroy, under the name of MONOTREMATA. So called, because they have only one external opening for the seminal fluid, urine and other excrements. Their organs of generation present extraordinary anomalies; for though they have no pouch under the belly, their pubis is furnished with the same supernumerary bones as the Marsupialia ; the vasa deferentia terminate in the urethra which opens into the cloaca; the penis, when at rest, is drawn into a sheath, which opens by a hole near the bottom of the cloaca. The only matrix consists of two canals or trunks, each of which opens separately and by a double orifice into the urethra, which is very large and terminates in the cloaca. As naturalists have not yet agreed as to the existence of their mammre ;(2) whether they are oviparous or viviparous remains to be ascertained.(3) The singularities of their skeleton are not (l) We have verified the habitat of the Long-tailed Pangolin, by the statement ofM. Adanson and other travellers. ( 2 ) M. Meckel considers as such two glandular masses he found greatly developed in a female Ornithorhynchus. M. Geoffroy thinks they are rather glands, analogous to those on the flanks of the Shrews. ~3) Travellers have lately asserted, that it has been ascertained that these ani- 8 produce eggs. Should this prove to be the case, the Monotremata must, in some sort, be considered as a separate class of animals; but it is to be wished that ~~e able anatomist would exactly describe these eggs, their internal origin, and ell' development after being produced. We must expect it from some one |