378 DASYPODID^. 



" Texan Armadillo. The people of Matamoras esteem its flesh, 

 and the women attribute imaginary properties to its shell. Living 

 on the kitchen-refuse. Nocturnal ; burying flesh and vegetable 

 substances for food." — Baird. 



The head of the animal and the skulls in the Museum collection 

 seem to increase in width, compared to the length, as the animal 

 increases in age. The width of the head and skull does not depend 

 on the sex ; for we have broad-headed and narrow-headed males in 

 the collection. The sides of the stuffed specimens are pale whitish, 

 with black backs. The specimens vary in the size of the scapular 

 disk. In one male in the Museum it appears much smaller than in 

 most of the other specimens ; but they all vary more or less in this 

 character. The tail varies considerably in length, compared with 

 the length of the body ; but the shortest is as long as the body. 



See a. Tatou verdadeiro, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. p. 118 ; Turner, P.Z. S. 

 1851, p. 213. Dasypus uroceras, Lund, Dausk. Vedensk. Natur. 

 Afh. viii. pp. 65, 225 ; Eapp, Edeut. p. 8. Hab. Brazil (M. de St.- 

 Hilaire). Tail terminated by a horny sheath of one piece, the bands 

 broader ; plates of pelvic shield larger. 



There is no specimen agreeing with the above description. May 

 not the peculiarity of the tail be an accidental malformation ? 



Dr. Burmeister gives Tatu verdadeiro as one of the common Bra- 

 zilian names of the species ; and he gives D. uroceras as a synonym 

 of his D. (Praojnis) longkaudatus. 



Dr. Peters, in the ' Monatsberichte ' for 1864, p. 179, very shortly 

 indicates, but gives no diagnostic characters nor descriptions of, 

 Dasypus 2yentadactylus, D. fenestratus, and D. novemcinctus, var. mexi- 

 canus. The latter is probably the animal described by Dr. Spencer 

 Baird. It is to be regretted that every zoologist who wishes to 

 name a species does not append to it a diagnosis : in this respect 

 the Scandinavian zoologists of Sweden and Denmark set a good 

 example. 



2. Tatusia hirsuta. 



Tail elongate, tapering ; the head, body, limbs, and dorsal shield 

 covered with elongated hairs ; the head elongate ; nose slender ; 

 ears large. 



/Praopus hirsutus, Burni. Abhandl. Nat. Ges. Halle, 1861, p. 147; 

 ?/ ,j i Rcise ilurch d. La Plata Staaten, 1861,; p. 2^38; Arch. f. Naturg. 

 ^'7/ 1862 p. 144. ^ 



( Tatusia hirsuta, Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 373. 

 ^ "-**"/ Dasypus hispidus, Burm. La Plata, ii. p. 428. 



Hab. Guayaquil (Mus. Lima, Burmeister). 



Length of head 4|, body 11|, and tail 10| inches. The rings 

 and the plates of the shield are very indistinctly marked, indeed 

 only shown at the shoulders and by slight folds on the lower part of 

 the sides. 



See Dasypus hispidus, Burm. Thiere Brasiliens, i. p. 287. Hah. 

 Brazil ; said to be distinct from D. hirsutus, Burm. 



