1S8 



SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 





124,— The Great Armadillo. 



of the tail ; the head is seven inches and a half long, the 

 ears an inch and three-quarters, and the tail one foot 

 five inches. Its superior size is alone sufficient to dis- 

 tinguish this species from all the other known armadillos, 

 but it possesses numerous other characters not less re- 

 markable. Its head is proportionately smaller than in 

 the other species, the forehead is more protuberant, and 

 the face, from the eyes downwards, assumes a tubular 

 cylindrical form, like that of the peba ; the ears are of a 

 moderate size, pointed, and habitually crouched back- 

 wards ; the bucklers of the shoulders and croup are com- 

 posed of nine and eighteen rows of plates respectively, 

 and separated by moveable bands to the number of twelve 

 or thirteen, formed of rectangular scales, about half an 

 inch square. The tail is thick at the root, being upwards 

 of ten inches in circumference : it is gradually attenuated 

 towards the tip, covered with plates disposed in rings at 



