N ATI 'HA LISTS CABINET. 



Various species. 



one might be the male, and the nine-banded the 

 female. 



The three-handed armadillo is said by travel- 

 lers to be the most elegant of the species. It is 

 of a fine cream colour, and the pattern of tlic 

 shell is remarkably beautiful, and well defined ; 

 the divisions are curiously studded, or embossed; 

 and the three zones of the body are peculiarly 

 distinct; the feet and claws are more delicately 

 formed than those of the other varieties. 



The species generally known by the name of 

 the twelve-banded armadillo, has sometimes thir- 

 teen or fourteen bands. It has a broad and thick 

 head, marked above in broad angular divisions : 

 the ears are broad and upright; each foot is 

 armed with five strong claws, and the tail is 

 guarded by scaly tubercles irregularly scattered. 



The following is a description of the weasel- 

 headed or eighteen-handed Armadillo, as given 

 from a specimen preserved in the Museum of the 

 Royal Society, in the last century. 



The figure of the head wa# nearly like that of 

 the weasel, from which it derived its appellation. 

 It was three inches and a half long, the forehead 

 very flat; and two inches and a half broad; the 

 extremity of the nose half an inch. Its eyes 

 were about a quarter of an inch long ; the ears 

 an inch, and two inches distant one from ano- 

 ther. Its body was eleven inches long, and six 

 broad: the tail five inches and a half long, being 

 t the base an inch and a quarter over, and at 



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