THE EXTINCT GLYPTODONTS 1397 



in the open plains, and feeds largely on carrion, which is said to be stored up in the 

 burrows for future consumption. In spite of this unsavory diet, the peba is much 

 hunted for its flesh, which is stated to be of delicate flavor. 



The above-mentioned mulita is a smaller species, with a relatively- 

 shorter tail. A very remarkable form is the rare shaggy armadillo 

 ( T. pilosa) from Peru, in which the cheeks and the whole of the carapace, except 

 the front margin, as well as the upper parts of the limbs and t*he under surface of 

 the body, are covered with a thick coat of light brown hair, of about an inch and 

 a half in length. So dense is this hairy covering that the carapace is completely 

 concealed, giving to the creature, save for its mail-clad head, the appearance of an 

 ordinary hairy Mammal. 



THE EXTINCT GLYPTODONTS 

 Family GLTPTODONTID^ 



As we have seen, the carapace of the largest existing armadillo scarcely exceeds 

 a yard in length; but during the Pleistocene, or latest, geological period, there ex- 

 isted in South America a number of gigantic armadillo-like animals, in some of 

 which the carapace attained a length of between six and seven feet. All these 

 Edentates differed from the living armadillos in having complex teeth (eight in 

 number on each side of the jaws), which were divided into three prisms by a pair of 

 deep vertical grooves on each side. In all of them the carapace consists of a single 

 solid shield, formed of a number of polygonal bony plates, which are firmly united 

 by suture. A peculiar form from Brazil known as the chlamydothere serves in 

 some respects to connect the glyptodonts w T ith the armadillos, having the carapace 

 of the latter, and the teeth approximating to those of the former. The typical spe- 

 cies was about the size of a rhinoceros, but others were smaller. 



In all the glyptodonts the skull was short, the feet were short and massive, 

 generally with five toes in front and four behind, and the limbs were likewise short 

 and massive. In the larger forms the bony plates of the carapace were fully an inch 

 in thickness, and in all the species the head was pro- 

 tected by a bony shield, somewhat similar in structure 

 to the carapace. In the larger types, constituting the 

 genus Glyptodon, the carapace was much vaulted, and its 

 margins ornamented with a number of large projecting 

 tubercles; while the tail was protected by a series of 

 bony rings, also ornamented with bosses, gradually di- 

 minishing in size from root to tip. In one species the 

 total length, along the curve of the back, from the nose 

 to the end of the tail was eleven and one-half feet, while 

 the carapace measured seven feet in length and nine in END OF SHEATH OF A 



GI,YPTODONT. 



width, inclusive of the curves. On the other hand, in (Much reduced ) 



the mostly smaller forms known as Lomaphorus, the 



carapace was less vaulted, and devoid of bosses on the margin; while the tail had 

 several movable smooth rings at the root, and terminated in a long bony tube of 



