740 EDENTAlA 



The Pangolin or Short-tailed Manis, Mauis brivicaudatus, is an 

 Eastern species. It has five toes. Sir Emerson Tennent gives the fol- 

 lowing short account of it : " Of the Edentates, the only example in 

 Ceylon is the Scaly Ant-eater, called by the Singalese, Caballaya, but 

 usually known by its Malay name of Pengolin, a word indicative of its 

 faculty of 'rolling itself up' into a compact ball, by bending its head 

 toward its stomach, arching its back into a circle, and securing all by a 

 powerful hold of its mail-covered tail. When at liberty, they burrow in 

 the dry ground to a depth of seven or eight feet, where they reside in 

 pairs, and produce annually two or three young. 



THE ARMADILLOS. 



The family Dasypodid.e ranges from South Texas to the plains of 

 Patagonia. It is divided into six genera, which are all very much alike. 

 The legs are short, the body compact, the tail of medium length, the 

 horny plates ftjrm rings around the body ; the other hornv integuments 

 on the head and tail are composed of a number of small plates joined 

 together, and forming patterns which differ in the various species. The 

 whole of the animal, even to the long and tapering tail, is covered with 

 these horny scales, with the exception of the upper part of the legs. 



GENUS TATARIA. 



The Tatouhon, Tataria scptciiiciiictiis, is a native of Guinea, Brazil, 

 and Paraguay, and is about thirty inches in length. Its color is a very 

 dark brown-black, whence it is often called the Black Tatu. 



According to Audubon : " The Armadillo is not a fighting character, 

 and, in general, does not evince any disposition to resent an attack- In 

 fact, one of them, when teased by a pet parrot, struck out with its claws 

 only till pressed by the bird, when it drew in its head and feet, and, 

 secure in its tough shell, yielded, without seeming to care much about it. 

 to its noisy and mischievous tormentor, until the parrot left it to seek 

 some less apathetic and more vulnerable object." 



GENUS PRIMODONTES. 



The Giant Armadillo, Primodoutcs f!,igas, measures more than four 

 feet six inches in length, the head and bodv being rather more than three 



