360 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



secured a nearly complete skeleton. In regard to the remains of 

 this beast the great investigator says in his Journal of Researches : 

 "The number of the remains of these quadrupeds embedded in the 

 vast estuary deposits which form the Pampas and cover the granitic 

 rocks of Banda Oriental must be extraordinarily great. I believe 

 a straight line drawn in any direction through the country would 

 cut through some skeleton or bones. As far as I am aware, not 

 one of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed, in the 

 marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but their bones 

 have been exposed by the streams intersecting the sub-aqueous 

 deposit in which they were originally imbedded. We may conclude 

 that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these 

 extinct gigantic quadrupeds." 



ARMADILLOS. — It is suggested that there was a relationship 

 between the extinct Sloths and Armadillos, although they were very 

 different in appearance. Their bones present striking resemblances 

 and they certainly both belonged to the Edentata (literally, the 

 toothless animals), a name which rather misrepresents the facts : the 

 animals did have teeth, but possessed none in the front of their 

 mouths. Two extinct Armadillos are figured on Plate XVIII. Their 

 modern representatives do not attain more than three feet in length ; 

 they are protected by scales which may number from three to thirteen, 

 and these scales are so arranged that the animals can roll them- 

 selves up somewhat after the manner of a Hedgehog. The fore feet 

 are very strong and are used for burrowing, which the animal can 

 accomplish at an astounding rate. The extinct Armadillos were 

 built on a larger scale, and their protective armour was all of a piece, 

 not divided into separate scales as in living species. Their remains 

 are found in the Pleistocene beds of the Argentine in South America; 

 they were contemporary with the Giant Sloths. These animals have 

 been named Glyptodons (carved tooth) on account of a carved appear- 

 ance of the surface of their teeth. They would be as large as an 

 Ox. Their carapace being solid, they could not roll themselves up 

 as modern Armadillos can, and their fore feet do not seem to have 

 been used for burrowing. 



ANCESTORS OF THE ELEPHANT.— A chapter on extinct animals 

 would not be complete without some reference to the extinct ancestors 

 of the modern Elephant. The evolution of this monster mammal has 

 been practically traced, although the chain of evidence is perhaps not 

 quite so complete as in the case of the Horse. An examination of 



