CHAPTER III.THE ARMADILLO FAMILY.

The Armour-plates—How the Shields are formed—Their connection with the Body—Description of the Animals—Mode of Walking—Diet—Skeleton—Adaptation of their Limbs for Burrowing—Classification—THEGREATARMADILLO—Appearance—Great Burrower—THETATOUAY—THEPOYOU,ORYELLOW-FOOTEDARMADILLO—THEPELUDO,ORHAIRYARMADILLO—THEPICHIY—THEPEBA,ORBLACKTATOU—THEMULEARMADILLO—THEBALLARMADILLO—Dr. Murie’s Account of its Habits—Description—The Muscles by which it Rolls itself up and Unrolls itself—THEPICHICIAGO—Concluding Remarks: Classification of the Order, Fossil Edentates, the Allied Species ofManisin South Africa and Hindostan.

BONES OF CLAW OF GREAT ARMADILLO.

THESESouth American animals are more or less covered with a hard bony crust, separated into shields and bands, which are more or less movable, owing to the presence of special skin-muscles. In the most perfectly armoured there are four distinct shields and a set of bands, a certain amount of motion being possible between their edges. Of the shields, one covers the head, another the back of the neck, a third protects the shoulders like a great cape, and the fourth arches over the rump like a half dome, and is, in some, attached by its deep structure to the bones of the hip and haunch. The movable bands cover the back and loins, and are between the third and fourth shields. The tail may further be invested by incomplete bony rings, and scattered scales, and others are distributed over the limbs. This covering is, according to Professor Huxley, strictly comparable to part of the armour of the Crocodile; and the Armadillos are the only Mammals possessing such structure. The shields and bands are formed of many scales, or scutes, which are ossifications of the skin, and they may be of many kinds of shape—four, or many-sided—being united by sutures, and they are incapable of separate motion. The shields and bands, however, vary much in their number, size, and perfectness in the different animals, which, being armoured, the Spaniards called Armadillos; and, indeed, the number of bands in the back and loin division varies in individuals of the same species. These bands cover the flanks, and, with the shields fore and aft, protect the limbs, which are often more or less hidden by a growth of hair. The bands, moreover, by being movable one on the other, enable the rest of the armour to accommodate itself to the motions of the body, so that some roll themselves up, as in a ball shape. There may be few or many bands present, and the extreme numbers are three and thirteen. The Armadillos are of different sizes, and whilst the smallest may be only ten inches in length without the tail, the largest are more than three feet long. The head is long, and broad at the neck, the ears are usually long, the neck is short, the body is long, round, and low, and the length of tail varies much in different kinds. Where the head shield joins that of the shoulders, there is a space for the movement of the short neck; but this is protected by a backward projection from the head shield. The throat, under parts, and thighs are not protected by armour, except here and there by small plates in the skin, or by a granulated state of it; and they are naked or hairy. Even between the bands on the back there are often long hairs, and the tail fits into a kind of notch in the last shield of the body, and its plates are close in almost all Armadillos, but not united. So that much more motion is given to it and to the body than might be expected by the muscles during their action beneath the more or less soldered bony skin. The flat top to the head, and the long muzzle, are useful to the Armadillos in their burrowing, and this is assisted by short and strong limbs armed with powerful claws. Some of the Armadillos are even capable of running with some speed; and the little Six-banded Armadillo, or Poyou, and the Matico, are very restless and active in captivity. With one exception, these animals move with the flat of their feet and hands on the ground; all have five hind claws, but there is some variation in the number of the fore claws, which may be four or five. They have simple cylindrical molar teeth, which, according to the species, are from seven or eight to twenty-five on each side of each jaw, and they are separate, standing apart from one another. Moreover, they are so arranged that when the mouth is closed, the upper teeth fit into the spaces between the under ones, and the under teeth into those of the upper, so that their grinding surfaces wear down into ridges. In one kind, there are some teeth in the pre-maxillarybones; but all the others have only molar teeth, which do not, however, go very far back, for there are none on the ascending ramus of the lower jaw. They are not, therefore, animals which prey upon their fellows, but are vegetable, insect, and probably carrion eaters. They dig and burrow, and their sense of smell is acute. This is assisted by the position of the nostrils in the long muzzle, for they are not at its tip, but rather underneath, so that they open downwards. In fact, the ends of the bones of the nose project in front of the pre-maxillary bones. The armour is doubtless useful against the attacks of their many carnivorous and reptile enemies; it assists them in burrowing, keeps off pressure, and may protect those which live in forests against a falling bough. They are passive creatures, mostly nocturnal in their habits, and their skeleton is strengthened in some parts in relation to its armour and its office.

SKELETON OF THE ARMADILLO.

Thus the spine of the second vertebra is tall and compressed, and reaches backwards over those of the third and fourth vertebræ, and it coalesces with them. The bodies of these vertebræ also join more or less solidly, and there are no (or very minute) spines on the last three cervical vertebræ. This gives a strange appearance to the skeleton, which is increased by the length of the spine of the first vertebra of the back (dorsal). In order to support the back shield, the projections from the back bones are greatly developed, and two side processes stand out on either side of the spinous one. Moreover, there is much fixity between the last dorsal and lumbar vertebræ, and the strong and long sacrum beneath the last shield is formed by the junction of the back bones of the root of the tail with the true sacral vertebræ. Finally, the transverse processes of some of the upper tail vertebræ are united to the pelvic bones. There is a corresponding strengthening of the chest, and a broad flat first rib accompanies an expanded condition of the upper part of the breast bone; and this bone is jointed with bony sternal ribs, which unite on the side of the chest with the ordinary ribs of the spine.

SKULL OF THE ARMADILLO.

As they are rapid burrowers, the limbs are fashioned with a view of favouring this kind of life, the general skeletal peculiarities of the Edentata being more or less preserved at the same time. They have a collar bone, and the blade bone is long, rather narrow, and has a tall, long spine, and a kind of offshoot from the back edge. The humerus of the arm is short and robust, strongly marked by ridges and depressions for the great muscles of the shoulder and chest, and the fore-arm is characterised by the disproportionate size of its two bones. The ulna has a very long and stout elbow process (olecranon) for the attachment of the muscles, which can force the hand strongly on to and into the earth, and drag it out, and its length makes the whole bone twice as long as the radius. The thigh bone has a strong crest, arising from the great trochanter, and extending downwards nearly the whole length of the bone; moreover, the great trochanter has a large process on the middle of its outer edge. The bones of the leg are broad, arched, and united at both ends, and the heel bone reaches far back, in order to give strength to the squatting position taken up when the animal is burrowing. The eye is placed rather high in the head, is protected above by the outer edge of the head armour, and by some small surrounding scales. It looks as a rule outwards. The lower jaw is long, and has a back angle, sometimes of some size; the cheek bone unites to the temporal bone, andthe arch is complete. In the face the intermaxillary bone is well developed, and there is often a crest of bone passing over the top of the skull from side to side over the occiput, which is in relation to the head armour. The brain is small; the back or little brain is not covered by the brain proper, whose convolutions and processes are few and simple. The olfactory lobes project.

GREAT ARMADILLO.

These armoured, round-bodied, short-legged, great-clawed animals are numerous, and there are several species, which need not, however, be collected into more than two genera. But it is by no means easy to arrange those of the first genus—the True Armadillos, genusDasypus—in any other than an arbitrary and very artificial classification. Usually they are grouped and separated by the relative number of digits or claws on the fore and hinder extremities; by the presence or absence of teeth in the intermaxillary bones; by their ability to roll up; and by the excessive or the small number of their teeth. The method of walking, whether on the sole or on the tips of the claws, and the number of the bands, have been partly employed in classification, but their number is often variable in individuals of the same species.

BRAIN OF THE ARMADILLO.

The Priodontes have but one species, which is readily distinguished by its superior size, besides by its great number of teeth, of which there are from twenty-two to twenty-four small ones on each jaw on each side, making from eighty-eight to ninety-six in all.

THE GREAT ARMADILLO.[73]

This is an inhabitant of Brazil, and of the northern parts of Paraguay and of Surinam, and is a dweller in the forest, being never found far out on the plains. The head is seven inches and a half long, and the ears, usually pointed and laid backwards, are not quite two inches in length. The head and body, without the tail, measure three feet and some inches, whilst the thickly-rooted but rapidlytapering tail is about a foot and a half in length. Hence the head is small for the body in this Armadillo, and the forehead is protuberant, and the face is very tubular and cylindrical-looking. The shoulder and croup shields are not expanded and solid, but consist of nine and eighteen rows of plates respectively, and the intermediate part of the body has twelve or thirteen movable bands, each of which is made up of rectangular scales, or scutes, about half an inch square. The circumference of the root of the tail is upwards of ten inches, and the organ is covered with plates, disposed in rings at the root, and not farther down, but forming spiral or crescent-shaped lines throughout the rest of its length.

The Great Armadillo is a persevering and most rapid burrower, and the fore limb and hand are singularly modified for the purpose of enabling rapid digging and removal of the soil. The olecranon process of the ulna is enormous, and the muscle of the deep flexor or tendon of the claws is ossified and turned into a hand bone. The metacarpal bones of the thumb and first finger are small, and so are the slender digits, but that of the middle finger is irregularly rectangular, and is broader than long, and the digit which it supports is extraordinarily short, stout, strong, and broad. Its corresponding bones of the fourth finger are similarly formed, but are somewhat smaller, and the fifth finger is very small. The nail phalanx of the middle finger is large and strong, being curvedoutwards, and having a large horny hood, or core, at its base, for the lodgment of the claw. There are five claws on the hands and feet, and the Armadillo moves on the flat of its feet, being plantigrade. There is no doubt that, aided by these digging weapons, and being of considerable stoutness, the animal makes long and deep burrows. It feeds on roots, fallen fruit, and insects, and there is a story that it seeks carrion, and it used to be said that the collectors of Cinchona bark in the dense forests, when they lost a companion by death, were obliged to bury the body in a grave surrounded with a double row of stout planks, to prevent its being scratched up and devoured by the Great Armadillo. Planks must be scarce, however, in those localities, and difficult to carry; and probably there are other inhabitants of the woods besides the Armadillos which would discover and drag out a corpse. To assist the scratching and digging, the soles of the feet are partly covered with flat scales.

The Kabassous have the fore and hind extremities furnished with an equal number of (five) fingers and toes respectively, but the number of teeth is, altogether, from thirty to forty.

THE TATOUAY.[74]

This Kabassou has the five fingers disposed obliquely; and the great middle and fourth claws resemble those of the gigantic Armadillo. It is named in allusion to its tail, which is more or less naked, and nearly uncovered with rings or plates, so that it has not the usual tube-like protection, or beautifully ornamented crust seen in some Armadillos. The tail is about seven inches and a half long, and is round and pointed, having only a few hard crusts beneath, near the outer third, where it often trails on the ground. The rest of its root is covered with soft brown fur, interspersed with a few stiff short hairs on the upper surface. The ears are large, being nearly two inches in length, and they form a segment of a circle in figure. The body is round, and the shields of the shoulder and croup have seven and ten rows of scales respectively, each scale forming an oblong rectangle, those near the root of the tail being the largest. The movable bands are thirteen in number, and are composed of much smaller scales than those of the shields, and they have a nearly square outline. The head is long and larger in proportion than that of the Great Armadillo, and it has not the very cylindrical appearance noticed in that and some other species. The arrangement of the claws resembles that of the Great Armadillo, whose they almost equal in size. The female has two pectoral mammæ.

It inhabits Guiana, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, and Surinam, and but little is known of the habits of these Armadillos. They burrow easily and rapidly, and their great claws enable them to grasp the earth, and fix themselves so thoroughly that a great amount of exertion is required to pull them out of a burrow. They live on insects and on vegetable matters.

The Encouberts of Cuvier have five toes on the fore and hinder extremities, and nine or ten teethon each side of the jaws, and there are two teeth in the intermaxillary bones of the upper jaw, representing the incisor teeth of ordinary Mammals, and thus forming an exception, not only to the other Armadillos, but even to the order ofEdentata, as represented in the recent period.

THE POYOU, OR YELLOW-FOOTED ARMADILLO.[75]

This little Armadillo, which in captivity and in the natural state is remarkable for its boldness and restlessness, is a native of Brazil and especially of Paraguay, where it is common. It has a large, flat, nearly triangular top to its head, the face is short, the muzzle obtuse, and the ears erect and of moderate size. It has sharp little eyes. It measures about sixteen inches from the nose to the tail, and this is about seven or eight inches long. The number of movable bands is often six, but this is not the invariable number, for there may be seven or eight. The tail is surrounded, at its base, with three or four bony rings, and throughout the rest of its length is nearly covered with regular tuberculous scales, the separations between the bands showing some long bristly grey hairs. The body is flat and broad, and has short legs, and the creature runs with a very active and determined gait. It is a strong little thing, and it is said that when it is chased, it will often get away from a man by sheer speed and activity. When any noise is made at the entrance of its burrow, or if it is teased by spectators around its cage, it comes forth and grunts like a Pig, and looks at the disturber with a bold inquiring look. When it is attacked it is powerless, and seems incapable of making any defence, but it retreats to its burrow, and getting to the bottom of it, digs deeper still. Its power of burrowing does not seem to be much diminished by the limited rotation of the fore-arm, to which there is no pronator quadratus, but a well-developed pronator teres.

POYOU.

The Poyou feeds much on carrion, and for this reason its flesh, though fat, is never eaten by the inhabitants of European origin, though the Indians make no distinction in this respect between it and other Armadillos. When it stops or rests, it has a custom of squatting close to the ground like a Hare on her form, and in this position the great breadth of the body becomes apparent.

The hinder shield has two hairs on the hinder side of each of its dorsal scales, and the under part of the body has scattered bristles on it. The female has two pectoral mammæ.

The next two Armadillos to be noticed were formerly included in the same group as the Poyou, but as they have not the incisor teeth on the intermaxillary bones, they are placed in the sub-divisionEuphractes.

THE PELUDO, OR HAIRY ARMADILLO.[76]

The long, silky, half bristly, abundant black hairs of this little Armadillo are the principal characteristics, which separate it, so far as its external construction is concerned, from the Poyou just noticed. It is smaller, however, the head measuring nearly four inches in length, and the whole body about two inches less thanDasypus sexcintus. The ears are long, large, and elliptical, and are pointed outwards, and the muzzle is broad. The forehead is broad and covered with rugged scales. The bands are six or seven in number, and the border of the shield, as well as that of the movable bands below, is indented in a remarkable manner, and forms sharp, regular points. There are eight teeth on each side, above and below, and the body, hairy as it is, is much scaled interiorly and on the limbs. The tail is long and slender, and only hairy at the root. This species does not inhabit Paraguay, nor probably is it found in the Brazils, but it exists in multitudes in the Pampas north of the Rio Plata, and Mr. Darwin noticed it in Chili. Its habits, according to that most accurate observer, are nocturnal, but D’Azara, to whom natural history owes very careful descriptions, states that “in an expedition which I made into the interior, between the parallels of 35° and 36° south latitude, I met with vast multitudes of this species of Armadillo, so that there was scarcely an individual of the party who did not daily capture one or two at least; for, unlike the Poyou, which moves abroad only at night, this animal is to be found at all times, and if alarmed, promptly conceals himself, if not intercepted. In March and April, when I saw them, they were so extremely fat that their flesh surfeited and palled the appetite; notwithstanding which, the pioneers and soldiers ate them roasted, and preferred them to beef and veal. This Hairy Armadillo, like others of the genus, has undoubtedly a very acute sense of smell, since it scents the carcases of dead Horses from a great distance, and runs to devour them; but as it is unable to penetrate the hide, it burrows under the body until it finds a place which the moisture of the soil has already begun to render soft and putrid. Here it makes an entrance with its claws, and eats its way into the interior, where it continues feasting on the putrid flesh, till nothing remains but the hide and bones, and so perfectly do these preserve their position, that it is impossible, from a mere external view, to anticipate the operations which the Armadillos have been carrying on within.” The same author states that this species never constructs burrows to reside in, that it avoids low, damp situations, and is found only on the dry upland plains. Probably there is more than one Hairy Armadillo.

THE PICHIY.[77]

This little Armadillo is only fourteen inches long, tail included; its scaling is very handsome, and there are six or seven bands according to the individual and age. The head is covered with close scales, which are elliptical behind, and concealed under the others in front, and the whole top has a triangular outline, hiding the eye much. The scales on the front shield are large, and are hexagonal or pentagonal, and the croup shield has the angular endings noticed in the last species. The scales of the bands and of the shields generally are beautifully ornamented with lines, depressions, and little tubercles, which are more or less concentric. There is some hair on the long neck, and on the legs and tail. The five digits and claws on the fore limbs are moderately developed, for the thumb is very small, and the fourth finger only a little longer. But the index is long, with a short claw, and the second has a stouter and longer claw, and the third is shorter. It has a slender snout and small ears.

Mr. Darwin writes that it “prefers a very dry soil and the sandy dunes of the coast of Chili, where for many months it can never taste water. In soft soil, the animal burrows so quickly that its hind quarters would almost disappear before one could alight from one’s horse.” It also inhabits the Pampas to the south of Buenos Ayres, and extends from 36° lat. southward to the confines of Patagonia. It inhabits burrows, to which, however, it does not confine itself during the day. Its flesh is said to be remarkably tender and well tasting. It is a hardy species, and can live in the dreary solitudes of Port Desire on the east coast.

The Cachicames, another group of Armadillos, were so called after the Indian name for a black kind, which has a very long tail, and which is the type of it.

The two kinds included in the group have four fingers, and five toes, which are separate, and the backs of the feet are round and covered with scales. The claws are conical, and the animal walks, as it were, on the toes more than on the sole, being thus digitigrade. The teeth number about eight on each side above and below.

THE PEBA, OR BLACK TATOU.[78]

This Armadillo has a very wide geographical range, extending from Texas, through Central America to Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay, and a variety calledDasypus Kappleriinhabits Surinam. It has great ears, which are long and placed very close together, and the muzzle at the end of the long, tapering face is not unlike that of the snout of a Hog in shape. The head is small, long, and straight, but the mouth is large. There are eight teeth on both sides of both jaws. The body is hairy below the shields and bands, which are largely developed. Then the neck and shoulder shield extends far back and comes as low as the elbow, and is composed of numerous scales disposed in many concentric rings, having the concavity in front, the first embracing the neck in its curve. The croup shield extends from the back to the origin of the tail, and reaches as low as the knees, and the concavity of its rings is turned towards the rear, the last embracing the tail. These scales are hexagons. Between the shields the bands are marked with zigzag lines forming very acute angles, and in some degree gliding over one another according to the movements of the animal. Out of fourteen specimens, two had six, one had seven, seven had eight, and there were four with nine bands; the full-grown ones have the greatest number. The head shield descends from the ears to the muzzle, and covers the cheeks as far down as the eyes, and there are small, interspersed, detached scales over the throat, the under jaw, the legs, and feet. The body is sixteen inches long, and the tail is nearly as long—fourteen inches—and is stout at the root. One variety of the species has some of the rings of the tail soldered into a case, which is used as a horn by the Indians. It is a timid, nocturnal animal, tolerably swift-footed and very expert in burrowing. It is never found in the woods, but delights in the open plains and cultivated fields, and is much hunted on account of the delicacy of the flesh, which, when roasted in the shell, is fat, and something better than Sucking-pig in taste. These long-tailed Armadillos bury garbage and flesh in their burrows, and eat it at their leisure.

Another species of this group is the Mule Armadillo (Dasypus hybridus, Desmarest), which has long, straight ears and a short tail. It roams farther north than the other kind, and is common on the Pampas, and is not nocturnal, nor does it burrow very easily. The female has from eight to twelve young at a birth, and the individuals of a litter are often of one sex.

The Armadillos of all kinds, it is said, only have one litter a year, and then the young are numerous, but the mother has never more than four teats, and many have only two.

The last group of the Armadillos, theTolypeutes, contains some remarkable species, which have the power of rolling themselves up as in a ball-shape, and they walk in a most extraordinary manner on the tip of long and powerful front claws, and also on the flat and tip of the hind ones.

THE BALL ARMADILLO.[79]

This is a small and very beautifully ornamented Armadillo, which has three free central bands and a short tail, with large fore and aft shields. It rolls itself up on the slightest alarm, so that the great shoulder and croup shields meet, the head and tail fitting in exactly, in front, so as to close up the body very safely. The little animal, which is rarely more than fifteen inches long, and has a tail of a couple of inches in length, is found in Brazil, Paraguay, and Buenos Ayres, and its walking on the long, stout claws of the fore legs gives it a very curious and unsteady appearance.

It is an active, sprightly, light-footed little thing, according to Dr. Murie, and is constantly on the move, going here and there with much vivacity. Poising itself on tiptoe, it trots backwards and forwards as if on some urgent errand. In captivity the food was raw meat, boiled eggs, and bread-and-milk. In the forest land, where it dwells along with its fellow armoured creatures, it has the advantage of being able to curl itself up, and to present no tangible part of its body to the host of mischievous Monkeys of its locality. The other Armadillos, when retiring to their holes, are often set upon by their lively quadrumanous neighbours, and are dragged out by the tail with great gusto; but the little Tolypeutes curls himself up and laughs at the disappointed Monkeys, who can find nothing to pull at about him.

BALL ARMADILLO.

The shoulder shield comes down like a flap, far in front, and the croup extends behind in the same way, and they and the bands have large scales, which are very pretty in shape and ornament. The shields are very stout, and so is the skeleton within. The fore foot has three large clawed toes, on the tips of which the animal walks. The thumb of the fore extremity is to be seen in the skeleton, but is not always visible in the skin, and it is very small and high up; the index is long, and the claw also, and it is slightly bent, but sharp at the tip. The next claw is the largest and longest, and has a cutting edge at the back and outer part, and the point is sharp. The next digit is smaller. In the hind foot there are five toes, one being high up and rudimentary, and the second and third having broad, flat, curved, short nails, the third being the greatest. The fourth nail is smaller, and they are all placed more or less flatly on the ground.

The shell of this Armadillo is blackish-brown, and the skin between the central bands is bald and smooth. There are nine back teeth on each side in both jaws, and there are none in front. The muscles which enable this Armadillo to bring its tail and nose together and to form a ball shape, are not simply expansions of the common muscular tissue, which exists deeply in the skin in so many animals, but are special structures. The most important are in relation to the position of the head, neck, limbs, tail, and the shields and bands, when the body is about to be and while it is being rolled up; and these roller-up muscles are so arranged as to permit of the large liver and other internal organs not suffering pressure during their natural or temporary displacement. On the other hand, the unrollers act when the body and bones are in the rolled-up condition. The muscles of the back are very tendinous, and to a degree they unroll the animal, but this is also performed by muscles which are attached underneath the first movable band of armour, and to the front part of the spine of the bladebone; this will tend, when it contracts, to pull out the legs and protrude the fore part of the body, the centre being still rigid. Another drawer-back of the bladebone assists in this action, and it is inserted into the front or chest shield. The rolling up is done by the action of muscles which draw the nose down, so as to make the long head at right angles to the neck; then the fore-legs and bladebones are drawn in and up. At the same time, the muscles which pull down the tail act on the hind shield, and draw it down and forwards. The legs are pulled up, and then a great muscle, which is largely attached to the front and hind shields, and has a tendon-like expansion in the middle of its course beneath the movable bands, contracts and pulls front and stern together. The muscles of the loins, which in jumping animals bring the spine to a curve, do not act, and indeed are excessively small. The chief bend in the back is between the second and third lumbar vertebræ. (Murie.)

GENUS CHLAMYDOPHORUS.—THE PICHICIAGO.[80]

PICHICIAGO.

This is an Edentate animal, resembling the Armadillos more than any others, and is about six inches in length. It has a conical-shaped head, a large full chest, short clumsy powerful fore limbs, with four great nails rising gradually one above the other, the external shortest, and broadest; and the whole so arranged as to form a sharp-cutting instrument, rather scooped, and very convenient for progression under ground. The back and croup are broad and high, and the tail is small. The hind legs are weak and short, the feet being long and narrow, and there is a well-defined heel. The foot is arched, the toes are separate, and the nails are strong. The whole surface of the body is covered with fine silk-like hair, which covers over the limbs on to the palms. But the most striking peculiarity is the long-banded shell, which is loose as it were throughout, being attached to the back immediately above the spine by cellular tissue. It rests on two knobs on the frontal bones, and these are the great attachments of this important covering. There are twenty-four bands and no separate shields, and their consistence is somewhat more dense than leather of the same thickness. They are composed of scales or plates of geometrical form, and the bands are separated by skin. There is a notch in the last band for the tail, and the free inferior edges of the bands are everywhere fringed with silky hair. This elongated band structure is moved, to a certain extent, by two broad thin muscles, which are beneath it, on the back, and each of which divides, on approaching the shoulder, into two portions, one being attached to the bladebone, and the other to the occiput.

The ear is hidden by hair, and is small; so also is the eye, which is black. The nostrils open downwards, at the inferior border of a large cartilage. The mouth is small, and there are eight teeth on both sides in both jaws. They are simple molars, and are separate and cylindrical. The head is large behind, and the jaws come almost to a point, and the lower has a long ascending ramus. Agreat passage for the spinal cord, and the two processes on the frontal bone, add to the curious appearance of this “bumpy” skull. The pelvis is remarkable in its structure, and is open in front.

Some of these animals have the bands of the armour not attached, as has been mentioned, to the muscles of the back and to the head, but have them adherent to the skin of the back to the edge; and the sides and under part of the body are then covered with woolly hair. These are the largest animals of the two, and are found in Bolivia. The others are from Mendoza and Chili. These curious animals live, partly, mole-like lives.

From what may be gleaned by reading the previous pages about the Edentates, it will appear that the order is a very remarkable one, and that it is interesting on account of the different external appearance of the species, their diverse modes of life, and singularly restricted localities. Evidently, there has been much degeneration in some of the anatomical characters of many of the species, and especially in those whose foot bones and neck vertebræ have joined more or less. The singular resemblance which some species present, in various points of their anatomy, to the lower animals, is very interesting, as is also their wonderful relation, in points of structure, with a number of extinct Edentata, most of which were gigantic.

The Edentata, called also Bruta by Linnæus, form an order, the characters of which are, that there are teeth of one or two kinds all very similar, and often wanting. The incisors are not developed except in one group, and the rest have either molars which are separate, and numerous and simple, or there are none. The extremities are clawed, and the tongue is more or less elongated. The great groups of this order are theTardigrada, or slow movers, which have a short face, long limbs, and small tail, and the body is covered with crisp hair; and theEffodientia, or diggers, which have long faces and worm-like tongues, with short limbs.

The Sloths form the only family of the Tardigrada, and the Effodientia are divided into the generaManis, the scaly Ant-eaters;Dasypus, the Armadillos;Chlamydophorus, the Pichiciagos;Orycteropus, the Ant-Bears; andMyrmecophaga, the American Ant-eaters. The Sloths form three genera—Cholœpus,Bradypus, andArctopithecus. Amongst the Ant-eaters, the genusManismay stand alone. The genusDasypusmay be divided, for the sake of convenience, into the subdivisions Priodontes, Kabassous, Euphractes, Cachicames, and Tolypeutes. The other genera need no subdivision.

The fossil Edentata are mostly gigantic, and formerly lived in Europe and in the Americas. The European kinds would, were they now living, belong probably to the group of Pangolins, and they are placed in the extinct generaPervatherium,Macrotherium, andAncylotherium. In the Pliocene deposits of North America, there are large Edentates belonging to the genusMorotherium, and the previous Miocene deposits containMoropus. The later, or Post-Pliocene strata of North and South America, contain species ofMylodonandMegalonyx,Megatherium,Scelidotherium,Cœlodon, andSphenodon; they constitute a group of Terrestrial Sloths—the Gravigrada. In Cuba, the fossil huge Gravigrade Sloths are of the generaMegalocnusandMyomorphus. The Armadillo group are found fossil in South America, and the genera areChlamydotherium,Euryodon,Heterodon,Pachytherium, andSchistopleuron. The modern genera are found with these, and the gigantic Armadillo-like animal, the Glyptodon, lived contemporaneously with the others, and possessed many strange peculiarities in its skeleton. The Ant-eaters are represented by a fossil form calledGlossotherium. The oldest Edentates of the American Continent are found in North America, unless there is a Miocene group of them in South America, which is by no means an improbable supposition. The European Ant-eaters now found fossil lived in the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene ages.

With regard to the discovery of recent and closely-allied species ofManis, in South Africa and Hindostan, it may be said that they are relics of the old forms of the intermediate and now sunken land, between Eastern Africa and India, which existed before the last upheaval of the Himalayas. The evident structural affinity between the Effodient Edentata of South America and Africa, although the genera are different, adds to the interest of the corresponding, and in some instances greater, resemblance of many African and South American fresh-water fish and plants. The geologist looks back in the remote ages of the globe, when the great land surfaces and seas of the world were rather across the earth than in their present longitudinal position, in order to explain this remarkable similarity.

P. MARTINDUNCAN.

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