334 SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS AND ARMADILLOS 



unlike the poyou, which moves abroad only at night, this animal 

 is to be found at all times, and, if alarmed, promptly conceals 

 himself if not intercepted. In March and April, when I saw them, 

 they were so extremely fat that their flesh surfeited and palled 

 the appetite ; notwithstanding which, the peons and soldiers ate 

 them roasted, and preferred them to beef or veal. This hairy 

 armadillo, like others of the genus, has undoubtedly a very acute 

 sense of smell, since it scents the carcasses of dead horses from a 

 great distance, and runs to devour them ; but as it is unable to 

 penetrate the hide, it burrows under the body until it finds a 

 place which the moisture of the soil has already begun to render 

 soft and putrid. Here it makes an entrance with its claws, and 

 eats its way into the interior, where it continues feasting on the 

 putrid flesh till nothing remains but the hide and bones/' 



The Ball Armadillo (Dasypus [Tolypeutes] apar) is a small and 

 very beautifully ornamented little animal, which has three free 

 central bands and a short tail, with large fore and aft shields. 

 It rolls itself up, on the slightest alarm, so that the great shoulder 

 and croup shields meet, the head and tail fitting in exactly, in front, 

 thus closing up the body safely. It is an active, light-footed 

 little animal, rarely more than fifteen inches long, and is found 

 in Brazil, Paraguay, and Buenos Ayres. 



From the above brief description it will be seen that the 

 Edentates form a very remarkable order, interesting on account 

 of the different external appearances of the species, their diverse 

 modes of life, and singularly restricted localities. It would appear 

 that there has been much degeneration in some of the anatomical 

 characters of many species, especially in those whose foot bones 

 and neck vertebrae have joined more or less. Equally interesting 

 is the singular resemblance which some species present, in various 

 points of their anatomy, to the lower animals, as is also their 

 wonderful relation, in point of structure, with a number of extinct 

 Edentata, most of which were of gigantic proportions, as for 

 example the armadillo- like glyptodon, which grew to sixteen or 

 seventeen feet in length, and whose fossil remains have been found 

 in South America, and so far north as Texas and Mexico. The 

 megatherium was a giant ground sloth as big as an elephant, and 

 its fossil remains are found in the Pleistocene gravels of South 

 America. The mylodon, another huge ground sloth, about as 



