CHOLOPUS.—TATUSIA. 187 
cotton in the animal’s mouth, and then tied a bladder over its head to prevent 
evaporation ”*. 
As Hoffmann’s Sloth appears to be more plentiful in Central America than the Three- 
toed species, it is probably the animal which Captain Dampier met with in his ‘ Voyages 
to Campeachy,’ and of which he speaks as follows :— 
“The Sloth is a four-footed, hairy, sad-coloured Animal ; somewhat less than the Ant- 
bear, and not so rough: Its Head is round, its Eyes small; it has a short Nose, and very 
sharp Teeth; short Legs, but extraordinary long sharp Claws. This Creature feeds on 
Leaves, whether indifferently of all sorts, or only on some particular kinds, I know not. 
They are very mischievous to the Trees where they come, and are so slow in Motion, 
that when they have eaten all the Leaves on one Tree, before they can get down from 
that and climb another, and settle themselves to their fresh Banquet (which takes 
them up five or six Days, though the Trees stand near,) they are nothing but Skin and 
Bones, although they came down plump and fat from the last Tree. They never descend 
till they have stript every Limb and Bough, and made them as bare as Winter. It takes 
them up eight or nine Minutes to move one of their Feet three Inches forward; and 
they move all their four Feet one after the other, at the same slow rate; neither will 
stripes make them mend their pace; which I have tried to do, by whipping them; but 
they seem insensible, and can neither be frighted, or provoked to move faster”’*. 
Suborder I]. ENTOMOPHAGA. 
The second suborder of Edentata is a much larger and more heterogeneous assembly 
than the first, divisible into at least four families, and comprising such varied forms 
as the Anteaters and Armadillos of America, and the Pangolins and Ant-Bears of Asia 
and Africa. Both the Neotropical families, Dasypodide and Myrmecophagide, are 
represented in our fauna. 
Fam. I. DASYPODIDZ. 
1. TATUSIA. 
Tatusia, Fréd. Cuvier, ap. Lesson, Man. de Mamm. p. 309 (1827)t. 
Dasypus, Wagler, Syst. Amph. &c. p. 86 (1830, nec Fréd. Cuvier). 
The Linnean genus Dasypus was co-extensive with the family Dasypodide of modern 
* Dampier’s Voyages, li. 2, p. 61. 
+ Frédéric Cuvier called the Armadillos without incisors ‘‘Tatusies” (Dents des Mamm. p. 195, 1825); 
and two years later the name Tatusia is given by Lesson as above, “ Dasypus, L., F. Cuv.,” being retained for 
D. sexcinctus. When Wagler divided the Linnean genus he retained Dasypus for the present group; but 
Cuvier’s names have clear priority, and have also the advantage of having been generally used, though almost 
always with an incorrect reference to the ‘ Dents des Mammiferes.’ 
2B 2 
