134. 



in them ; and had there been two or three, the keeper mušt have 

 been aware of it. 



The skeleton was exhibited of the JVeasel-headed Armadillo, Da- 

 sypus 6-cinctus, Linn. ; and Mr. Ovven read the following Notas on 

 the osteology of that species : — 



" After the minute and elaborate descriptions and comparisons 

 of the skeletons of the Dasypodce, which have been given by the 

 Baron Cuvier in the fifth volume of the ' Ossemens Fossiles,' but 

 little remains to be added on that subject. As, however, the ske- 

 leton of the įveasel-headed Armadillo, now before the Committee, has 

 been prepared, with great care, from one of the adult specinaens 

 lately alive in the Society's Gardens, and as this species has been 

 much more rarely subjected to anatoraical examination than the 

 nine-banded, a fevv observations on it may not be unacceptable. 



" The crmdum presents the elongated conical form common to 

 the Dasypodce, tapering gradually tovvards the nose, but it is shorter, 

 broader and flatter than in Das. Pela. On the anterior part of the 

 os Jrontis may be observed tvvo broad but sHghtly raised emi- 

 nences which occupy the whole breadth of the bone : they are 

 most marked in the older subjects, where their smooth and shining 

 surface presents a remarkable contrast to the ręst of the cranium, 

 which is sculptured by the perforations and canals of numerous 

 vessels. On removing the thin layer of bone vvhich formed the 

 convexity of one of these eminences, I found the cavity beneath 

 was principally a continuation of that of the cranium, and had 

 lodged the olfactorj' ganglions. The ręst of the cavity anteriorly 

 was occupied by a very large and complicated turbinated process 

 of the ethmoidal bone ; the cribriform plate of the sarae bone was 

 observed to be of great extent, and the vvhole structure displayed 

 the high degree in which this animai is endovved with the sense of 

 smell. These eminences are described by Cuvier as being more 

 developed in the Cabassou, Das. unicinctus, Gmel. They corre- 

 spond in situation to those vvhich render the os Jrontis of Chlamy- 

 phorus so pecuHar. 



" The number o? vertebrce and thelength of each division of the 

 vertebral column are as follovvs : 



" The cervical vertehrce present the peculiarity observable in the 

 other species of this tribe, that of being partially anchylosed to- 

 gether. In this instance the axis and the 3rd and 4th vertebrce are 

 so joined ; the lines of division between the two former being indi- 

 cated only by the lateral orifices for the nerves, vvhich are tvvo on 

 each sidę. This anchylosis of the cervical vertebrce is also found. 



