I 4 ANIMAL LIFE PAST AND PRESENT. 



relationship with the lowest of the mammal class, such 

 as the Australian duck-mole.* Since, moreover, the 

 duck- mole and its allies have no coat-of-mail, it is 

 further evident that the Edentates have not inherited 

 their armour from lower forms, but that they have 

 evolved it themselves de now. 



The Edentates, which are chiefly characteristic of 

 South America, having however, so to speak, once 



FIG. 5. The three-banded Armadillo. 



made up their minds that armour is the right thing, 

 have gone in for it with a will, with the result that 

 they show some of the finest specimens of plate-armour 

 to be found in the whole animal kingdom. In the 

 comparatively small Armadillos (Fig. 5), which are the 

 best known examples of the armoured Edentates, the 

 whole of the body, with the exception of the under 



* See Chapter XI. 



