296 ORDER IX. 



the face short ; structure such as to be incapable of 

 active motion. 



Genus BRADYPUS. The Sloths. Have cylindri- 

 cal molars and pointed canines ; two pectoral mam- 

 ma? ; and the fingers of the paws wrapped within the 

 skin show externally only very large claws ; their 

 arms are disproportionably long, and the hind legs 

 short : they feed on leaves, and never quit a tree 

 until it is stripped of verdure. 



B. tridactylus. The Ayei. Three-toed, and B. 

 didactylus, Unau or Two-toed Sloth, are sufficiently 

 well known. They are both from tropical America, 

 and other species named, differ but little in colour 

 and quantity of hair. 



The ordinary Edentata have a pointed snout; 

 some have likewise a few molars. We reckon two 

 genera. 



Genus DASYPUS. The Armadillos. Remark- 

 able for the scaly shields, or bony armour, forming 

 a kind of marquetterie of fegular patterns upon the 

 defensive plates which cover them ; there being a 

 plate on the forehead, a second covering the shoul- 

 ders, a third forming a succession of segments on 

 the back, and a fourth on the croup ; the tail itself 

 being similarly covered by a series of cylinders ; and 

 the animal thus entirely protected, by a kind of 

 armour, has, besides, the faculty of rolling itself into 

 a ball, and very often in this state setting itself in 

 motion, bowls down hill without hesitation. They 

 are inoffensive to man, unless the alleged fondness for 

 human flesh, in a state of decomposition, be regarded 



