the Scaly Lizard, in zoology; a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of bruta, the characters of which are these: They have no foreteeth either in the upper or under jaw; the tongue is long and cylindrical; the snout is long and narrow; and the body is covered with hard scales. There are two species: 1. The pentadactyla, or short-tailed manis, with five toes on each foot. The head is smaller than the neck; the eyes are very small; the length of the body, including the tail, is from six to eight feet. The whole body is covered with hard scales, excepting the under-part of the head and neck, the breast, the belly, and the internal side of each leg. Betwixt the scales of this animal there are some hairs like the brittles of a hog, brownish at the points. The scales are of a reddish colour, very hard, convex above, and concave below. All the parts which want scales are naked. The scales are unconnected; and the animal can raise or lower them at pleasure, like the quills of the porcupine. When irritated, he erects his scales, and rolls himself up like a hedge-hog. In this situation, neither the lion, tiger, nor any other animal can hurt him. It is said to destroy the elephant by twisting itself round his trunk, and compressing that tender organ with its hard scales. It feeds on lizards and insects; turns up the ground with its nose; walks with its claws bent under its feet; grows very fat; and is esteemed delicate eating; makes no other noise than a kind of snorting. It is a mild inoffensive creature, is slow of motion, and has no other method of escaping the pursuit of man, but by concealing himself in crannies of rocks, and in holes which they dig in the ground, and where they likewise bring forth their young. It is a native of the East Indies, and is very rare. Mr Pennant conjectures that it may be a native of of Guinea; the quageli of the Negroes, which, Des Marchais says, grows to the length of eight feet, of which the tail is four. It lives in woods and marshy places; feeds on ants, which it takes by laying its long tongue across their paths, which is covered with a viscid saliva, so that the insects which attempt to pass over it cannot extricate themselves.

2. The tetradactyla, or long-tailed manis, with four toes on each foot. This species is very similar to the former; only the tail of it is much longer in proportion to the body; and such parts as want scales, instead of being naked, are covered with a soft hair. It inhabits Guinea, and is also found in the East Indies.