As for the squirrel of Barbary, as he is of the same continent and climate, of the same size, and nearly the same form as the palmist, they might be considered as varieties of the same species; yet in comparing the description and figure of the squirrel of Barbary, given by Caius, and copied by Aldrovandus and Johnson, with the description given here of the palmist, and comparing afterwards the description and figure of the squirrel of Barbary, given by Edwards, it is easy to discern that they are different animals. We have seen them all in the king's cabinet. The squirrel of Barbary has the head and forehead more round, the ears longer, and the tail more bushy than the palmist; he is more like a squirrel than a rat, by the form of his head and body; and a palmist resembles more a rat than a squirrel. The squirrel of Barbary has four white stripes, and the palmist has no more than three; the white stripe is on the palmist's back bone, but that on the squirrel of Barbary is brown and red. These animals have very near the same habits and dispositions as the common squirrel. Like him they feed upon fruit, and use their fore paws in carrying it to the mouth; they have the same voice and cry, the same instinct, and agility; they are lively and tractable, easily tamed, and so fond of their habitations, that they never go out but on diversion, and return spontaneously to their residence. They are both of a pretty figure; their coats, which has white stripes, is more valuable than that of the squirrel; their size is shorter, their body lighter, and their motions equally quick. The palmist, and the squirrel of Barbary, dwell on trees like the common squirrel, but the Swiss lives upon the earth, and, like the field mouse, forms a retreat that the water cannot penetrate; he is also less docile and less gentle than the two others; he bites without mercy, except completely tamed, from which it appears he is more like a rat, or a field mouse, than a squirrel, by instinct and nature. _Engraved for Barr's Buffon._ [Illustration: FIG. 124. _Great Ant Eater._] [Illustration: FIG. 125. _Short tail'd Manis._] [Illustration: FIG. 126. _Long tail'd Ditto._] THE ANT EATERS.