108 



ARMADILLOS AND AARD-VARKS. 



CHAPTER XL 



ARMADILLOS AND AARD-VARKS. 



OF the four animals represented in the figures accom- 

 panying the present chapter, three are sufficiently alike to 

 suggest to the ordinary observer their relationship to one 

 another, but the fourth is so utterly different, that it is 

 difficult to point out any important character it has in 

 common with the three others ; nevertheless, naturalists 

 generally regard all these four strange creatures as 

 belonging to a single order of mammals, for which the 

 name of Edentata is adopted. The signification of the 



FIG. 34. The Three-Banded Armadillo. 



term Edentata being toothless, the unsophisticated student 

 would naturally be led to suppose that all the animals so 

 named were utterly devoid of those useful but troublesome 

 appendages. This, however, is far from being the case, the 

 majority of the members of the group (among which are 

 those figured here) having a considerable number of teeth. 



