NOTE ON THE OCCUERENCE OF AN ARMADILLO OF THE 

 GENUS XENURUS IN HONDURAS. 



By Frederick W. True, 



Curator of the Department of Mainmala. 



About four years ago the National Museum received from Chameli- 

 cou, Honduras, with other mammals, an armadillo of the genus Xenurm. 

 This is the first instance, so far as I am aware, in which any representa- 

 tive of this genus has been found in Central America. The species is 

 presumably the X. hispidus of Burmeister, but to this I will refer again 

 presently. 



The specimen (No. 19464, U.S.N.M.) is a female, and was obtained at 

 Chamelicon, Honduras, January 8, 1891. Mr. Wittkligel, the collector, 

 states that the native name of the species is "Tumbo." He gives the 

 following dimensions: 



Total length, 1 foot 5 inches; tail, 6i inches; hind foot, 4 inches.^ 

 The skin, from which the skull was extracted, has been mounted, and 

 I have measured it, with the following result: Total length, along 

 curves, 510 mm. ; head and body, 362 mm. ; head, 73.5 mm. ; tail, 150 mm. ; 

 ear from crown, 27 mm.; hind foot and claw, 66.5 mm.; longest claw of 

 fore foot (straight), 38.5 mm. 



As but few specimens of the smaller Xemtri have been examined, I will 

 describe this individual (Plate X) somewhat in detail. The head is short 

 and blunt, and the extremity of the snout entirely naked for a distance 

 of 16 mm. The cephalic shield consists of about 38 comparatively large 

 plates. There are two short rows of plates in front of the scapular 

 shield, of which the first contains 6 plates and the second 8 plates. The 

 scapular shield consists of 8 antero-posterior rows of plates, including 

 an anterior, narrow, marginal row, and the posterior row which resem- 

 bles a thoracic ring. These rings are 11 in number, each with from 28 

 to 31 plates. The pelvic shield has 10 antero-posterior rows of i)lates. 



The plates of the scapular and pelvic shields are large and quadrate, 

 with rounded edges; those of the thoracic rings are rectangular, witli 



'This is probably a measaremeut of the hiud Icff. The foot with claw measures 

 2f inches. 



Proceedino;s of the Unitt-d States National Museum, Vol. XVlll— No. 1069. 



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