nder the
title _'Antar, a Bedoueen Romance_ (4 vols., London, 1820).

For an account of the poet and his works see H. Thorbeckes, _Antarah,
ein vorislamischer Dichter_ (Leipzig, 1867), and cf. the _Book of
Songs_ (see ABULFARAJ), vol. vii. pp. 148-153. (G. W. T.)

ANTARCTIC (Gr. [Greek: anti], opposite, and [Greek: arktos], the Bear,
the northern constellation of _Ursa Major_), the epithet applied to the
region (including both the ocean and the lands) round the South Pole.
The Antarctic circle is drawn at 66 deg. 30' S., but polar conditions of
climate, &c., extend considerably north of the area thus enclosed. (See
POLAR REGIONS.)

ANTEATER, a term applied to several mammals, but (zoologically at any
rate) specially indicating the tropical American anteaters of the family
_Myrmecophagidae_ (see EDENTATA). The typical and largest representative
of the group is the great anteater or ant-bear (_Myrmecophaga jubata_),
an animal measuring 4 ft. in length without the tail, and 2 ft. in
height at the shoulder. Its prevailing colour is grey, with a broad
black band, bordered with white, commencing on the chest, and passing
obliquely over the shoulder, diminishing gradually in breadth as it
approaches the loins, where it ends in a point. It is extensively
distributed in the tropical parts of South and Central America,
frequenting low swampy savannas, along the banks of rivers, and the
depths of the humid forests, but is nowhere abundant. Its food consists
mainly of termites, to obtain which it opens their nests with its
powerful sharp anterior claws, and as the insects swarm to the damaged
part of their dwelling, it draws them into its mouth by means of its
long, flexible, rapidly moving tongue covered with glutinous saliva. The
great anteater is terrestrial in habits, not burrowing underground like
armadillos. Though generally an inoffensive animal, when attacked it can
defend itself vigorously and effectively with its sabre-like anterior
claws. The female produces a single young at a birth. The tamandua
anteaters, as typified by _Tamandua_ (or _Uroleptes_) _tetradactyla_,
are much smaller than the great anteater, and differ essentially from it
in their habits, being mainly arboreal. They inhabit the dense primeval
forests of South and Central America. The usual colour is
yellowish-white, with a broad black lateral band, covering nearly the
whole of the side of the body.

The little or two-toed anteate