332 SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS AND ARMADILLOS 



five feet in length, with long tails ; and their body, limbs, and 

 tail are covered with numerous large, somewhat angular, and 

 sharp-edged scales, as with armour. The scales overlap each other 

 like tiles, and the free part pointing backwards is bluntly angular 

 or rounded at the tip. When the Pangolin is on its feet walking, 

 these scales form a very close and impenetrable covering, being 

 doubtless of great use to it as a means of defence. When the 

 animal is alarmed or danger threatens, it rolls itself up like 

 a ball, and sticks up its scales, offering their sharp edges to the 

 enemy. In walking the front claws are bent under, so that 

 the whole weight of the front of the body is thrown on the back of 

 the claws. The hind-feet are placed flat, and the sole and under 

 part of the claws sustain the hind-quarters. The joints of the five 

 fingers of the fore-feet are so arranged that they can bend down- 

 wards only, and indeed they are more or less permanently bent, 

 being kept in that position by strong ligaments. This assists 

 the digging powers of the claws, which are, moreover, forked at 

 their points in some species, and the wrist is rendered very strong 

 by having the joints between two of its bones abolished. Every 

 structure in the fore-limbs is adapted to promote easy and powerful 

 digging; The Pangolins, like the aard-vark and the South American 

 ant-eaters, break open the nests of the true ants and the so-called 

 white ants or termites, and the swarming insects are caught on 

 the long, slimy tongue, and thus conveyed to the mouth. 



The Armadillos are inhabitants of South America, and are 

 more or less covered with a hard bony crust, separated into shields 

 and bands, which are more or less movable owing to the presence 

 of special skin-muscles. This remarkable covering is, according 

 to Professor Huxley, strictly comparable to part of the armour 

 of the crocodile ; and the Armadillos are the only mammals pos- 

 sessing such a structure. The shields and bands are formed of many 

 scales, or scutes, which are ossifications of the skin. In the most 

 perfectly armoured Armadillos there are four distinct shields and 

 a set of bands. Of the shields, one covers the head, another the 

 back of the neck, a third protects the shoulders like a great cage, 

 and the fourth arches over the rump like a great dome. The 

 movable bands cover the back and loins, and are between the third 

 and fourth shields: The tail may be invested by complete bony 

 rings]and scattered scales. So that these remarkable little animals 



