The great ant-eater looks, at a distance, like a fox, and for that reason some travellers call him the American fox; he is strong enough to defend himself against a large dog, and even the jaguar. When attacked he at first fights standing on his hind legs, like the bear, and makes use of his fore claws, which are powerful weapons; afterwards he lies down on his back, and uses all four feet, and in that situation he is almost invincible, and fights with obstinacy till the last extremity; even after he has put to death his adversary he keeps hold of him a long while. He maintains the fight longer than most animals, from being covered with long bushy hair and a very thick skin, besides his flesh is remarkably hard, and he seldom loses his life in these engagements. The three ant-eaters are natives of the hottest climates of America, are found in Brasil, Guiana, the country of the Amazons, &c. but they are not met with in Canada, or in the northern regions of the new world, they consequently do not belong to the ancient continent; yet Kolbe and Desmarchais have stated these animals to live in Africa, but they seem to have confounded the scaly lizard with the ant-eaters. Perhaps this mistake is in consequence of a passage of Marcgrave, who says: "_Tamandua-guacu Brasiliensibus, congensibus (ubi et frequens est) umbula dictus_;" but Marcgrave certainly never saw this animal in Africa, since he confesses that he had seen only his skin in America. Desmarchais only says that the great ant-eater is found in Africa as well as America, but he adds no circumstance to prove this fact. In regard to Kolbe's attestation, we reckon it nothing, for a man who has seen at the Cape of Good Hope, elks and lynxes, like those of Prussia, might also see the ant-eaters in the same climate. But they are not mentioned by any authors among the animals of Asia or Africa, while all the travellers, and most of the historians, of America, make a particular mention of them. De Lery, de Laët, Father d'Abbeville, Maffèe, Faber, Nieremberg, and M. de la Condamine, agree with Piso and Barrere, in declaring that the ant-eaters are peculiar to the warm countries of America; thus we cannot doubt that Desmarchais and Kolbe were mistaken, and that these three species of animals do not exist in the ancient continents. SUPPLEMENT. I have received from M. Maudhuit, residing at Guiana, an ant-eater in excellent condition, which appears to be of the same species as those just described, differing somewhat in the length of the muzzle and the toes.