116 THE WEASEL-HEADED ARMADILLO. 



The ears are moderately large, erect, pointed and moveable. 

 The eyes small, and placed laterally. The extremities are 

 thick, and hardly longer than is necessary for preventing the 

 body trailing on the ground. The claws are very long, a little 

 curved, very powerful and adapted for burrowing. 



The teeth are all of one kind as respects their form, which 

 is designed for triturating, or grinding ; but, as in the species 

 we shall more particularly describe in this article two of these 

 teeth are implanted in the intermaxillary bones, they, together 

 with those which are opposed to them in the lower jaw, have 

 been regarded as incisors, and consequently as indicative of a 

 generic distinction. The teeth are of a cylindrical form, those 

 of the same jaw separated by intervals from each other, and 

 meeting those of the opposite jaw by oblique grinding sur- 

 faces. 



The moveable bands are separated by narrow intervals of 

 naked and flexible skin, which gives to the body a great mo- 

 bility at this part, and enables the animal to contract itself 

 into a ball, when assaulted. These central bands vary in num- 

 ber from three to twelve in the different species, but are not 

 so well calculated as Linnaeus supposed, to serve as distinc- 

 tive characters, since their number is not always the same in 

 individuals of the same species ; they also become more di- 

 stinctly marked by age. 



With his coat of mail the armadillo defends not only his 

 head and all the upper part and sides of the body, but also 

 the neck, which, being extremely short, can be covered by the 

 corresponding margins of the plates of the head and shoulder. 

 By the same means, the armadillo, in retracting his head, 

 covers the sides of that part by the margins of the shoulder- 

 piece. With respect to the four legs, they are naturally con- 

 cealed by the lower margins of the shields and bands ; but as 

 the feet are deprived of this advantage, they are on that ac- 

 count defended by the strong scale's. 



The armadillos have hitherto been only met with in the 

 warm and temperate parts of South America, as New Spain, 

 Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay and Chili. They live solitary, or 

 in small societies, some in the woods, others in the plains or 

 pampas. Their burrows extend downwards at an angle of 

 about 45 degrees, and have sudden turnings, so as to render 

 their extent difficult to be ascertained ; but they appear in 

 general not to exceed eight feet in length. 



The species may be enumerated as folio ws : — 



a. Armadillos with incisors and molaries. 

 1. The Weasel -headed Armadillo ; Dasypus mustelines. 



