34 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Hawaii, by Miss Barbara Lawrence, who says that the boys 

 sometimes find them hanging among the fronds of tree ferns 

 in the lowland valleys. 



While at present the species may be in no particular danger, 

 it is likely that any considerable changes, such as reduction in 

 the amount of sheltering tree growth, will affect the species 

 adversely. As the only bat at present known to inhabit this 

 group of islands, this species is of particular interest, and its 

 obvious derivation from the American Continent makes it 

 further noteworthy from the distributional viewpoint. 



Order EDENTATA: Edentates 



The New World edentates belong to the suborder Xenarthra. 

 Two groups are recognized: 



(1) Cingulata, the armadillos and their relatives. A race of 

 the widely distributed nine-banded armadillo is restricted in 

 its range to a small West Indian island and may be easily 

 exterminated. 



(2) Pilosa, sloths, ground sloths, and American anteaters. 

 Of these the ground sloths have become entirely extinct; five 

 species are thought to have persisted into historic times in 

 Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Cuba. J. E. H. 



Family DASYPODIDAE: Armadillos 



GRENADA ARMADILLO 

 DASYPUS NOVEMCINCTUS HOPLITES G. M. Allen 



Dasypus novemcinctus hoplites G. M. Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp.. Zool., vol. 54, p. 195, 

 July, 1911 ("Hills back of Gouyave, island of Grenada," West Indies). 



This is a small race of the continental nine-banded armadillo, 

 but it may be included in this account since any island race 

 represented by a relatively small population is liable to further 

 reduction if in the course of years the conditions change 

 greatly through fire, settlement, or other causes that may 

 further restrict the available habitat. 



Externally this is a somewhat smaller replica of the ordinary 

 nine-banded armadillo, with the usual external bony cuirass 

 consisting of a shoulder shield, a rump shield, and nine inter- 

 mediate half-rings on the body. The tail is covered with a 



