xin 



PHYLUM CHORDATA 



585 



by the discovery of remains in the Pliocene of the island of Saraos 

 .in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Eocene of Southern France, 

 to have formerly had a wider distribution. The American fossil 

 Edentata, all of Pleistocene age, comprise, in addition to extinct 



FIG. 1244. Glyptodon clavipes. (After Owen.) 



genera of Armadillos, some of gigantic size, and one genus of Sloths, 

 representatives of two extinct families, the Gtyptodontidcs and the 

 MegatheriidcB. 1 The former (Fig. 1244) are large Edentates re- 

 sembling the Arma- 

 dillos in the presence 

 of a bony dermal 

 carapace and a bony 

 investment for the 

 tail ; but in the 

 Glyptodontidse the 

 carapace has no 

 movable rings, so 

 that the animal could 

 not roll itself up, and 

 there is usually a 

 ventral bony shield 

 or plastron, never 

 present in the Arma- 

 dillos. Glyptodonts 

 occur in North as 



FIG. 1245. Mylodonrobustus. (Restoration, after Owen.) 



well as in South 

 America. The Mega- 

 theriida3 (Fig. 1245) are Edentates, mostly of enormous size and 

 massive build, which combine certain of the features now charac- 

 teristic of the Ant-eaters (Myrmecophagidse) and the Sloths (Brady- 



1 Recent remains stated to belong to a Megatherium have been found in 

 South America. 



