BRADYPODIDjE 179 



\ Mums, and gradually separated into the purely vegetable and 

 purely animal feeders; from the former are developed the modern 

 Sloths, from the latter the Anteaters. The Armadillos (Dasypodida ) 

 are another modification of the same type, retaining some 

 generalised characters, as those of the alimentary organs, but in 

 other respects, as in their defensive armature, remarkably special- 

 ised. The two Old World families Manidce and Orycteropodidce are 

 so essentially distinct, both from the American families and from 

 each other, that it may even lie considered doubtful whether they 

 are derived from the same primary branch of mammals, or whether 

 they may not be offsets of some other branch, the remaining 

 members of which have been lost to knowledge. Further remarks on 

 this point are recorded under the description of the Orycteropodidce. 1 



Family Bradypodid.e. 



Externally clothed with long, coarse, crisp hair. Head short 

 and rounded. External ears inconspicuous. Teeth f in each jaw, 

 subcylindrical, of persistent growth, consisting of a central axis of 

 vaso-dentine, with a thin investment of hard dentine, and a thick 

 outer coating of cement ; without (so far as is yet known) any suc- 

 cession. Clavicles present. Fore limbs greatly longer than the 

 hind limbs. All the extremities terminating in narrow, curved 

 feet ; the digits never exceeding three in number, encased for 

 nearly their whole length in a common integument, and armed 

 with long strong claws. Tail rudimentary. Stomach complex. No 

 caecum. Uterus simple and globular. Placenta deciduate, dome-like, 

 composed of an aggregation of numerous discoidal lobes. Strictly 



1 An attempt has been made to represent these views by the following 



classification : 



Order EDENTATA. 



Suborder Pilosa. 

 Bradypodidce. 



Megatheriidce. 



My r mccophagidce. 

 Suborder Loricata. 



Dasypodidce. 

 Suborder Squamata. 



Manidce. 

 Suborder Tubulidentata. 



Orycteropodidce. 



It may be objected to this arrangement that the present divergence between 

 the Sloths and Anteaters is hardly sufficiently indicated by their association in 

 one suborder. — Flower, "On the Arrangement of the Orders and Families of 

 Mammals," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 178. 



