94 MAMMALIA. 



and the toes are the only parts of it that are well known, but they strongly 

 resemble those of the preceding. 

 The second tribe comprehends the 



EDENTATA ORDINARIA, 



Or the Ordinary Edentata, with a pointed muzzle. Some of them still have 

 cheek teeth. They form two genera. 



DASYPUS, Lin. 



The Armadillos are very remarkable among the mammalia, for the scaly 

 and hard shell formed of compartments resembling 

 little paving stones, which covers their head and body, 

 and frequently their tail. This substance forms one 

 shield over the forehead, a second very large and 

 convex over the shoulders, a third on the croup similar 

 to the second, and between the two latter several 

 parallel and moveable bands, which allow the body to 

 bend. The tail is sometimes furnished with suc- 

 cessive rings, and at others, like the legs, merely 

 with tubercles. These animals have large ears, and sometimes four, and at 

 others five great nails before, but always five behind. The muzzle pointed, 

 the grinders cylindrical, seven or eight in number, separated from each other, 

 and without enamel inside. They dig burrows, and live partly on vegetables, 

 and partly on insects and dead bodies. They all belong to the hot or at 

 least to the temperate parts of America. 



They may be divided into subgenera from considerations drawn from the 

 structure of their fore feet and the number of their teeth. Most of them 

 have only four toes to the anterior feet, the two middle ones of which are 

 the longest. These subgenera are 



APARA,CUV. (3-banded Armadillo); ENCOUBERTUS, Cuv. (6-banded Arma- 

 dillo) ; CABASSOUS, Cuv. (The Tatouay ) ; PRIODON, Fr. Cuv. (The Giant 

 Armadillo) ; and the CLAMYPHORUS, Harl., of which only one is known, the 

 C. trvncatus, Harl. 



It appears that the fossil bones of a Tatou of gigantic size, being ten 

 feet long exclusive of the tail, have been found in America. See Cuv. Oss. 

 Foss. V. part 1, p. 191, note. 



ORYCTEROPUS, Geoffroy*. 



The animals of this genus were for a long time confounded with the 

 ant-eaters on account of their using the same kind of food, having a similar 

 head, and a tongue somewhat extensible ; but they are distinguished from 

 them by being furnished with grinders and flat nails, formed for digging, 



*'.*"i. **'' - u H*i 



Orycteropus, feet fitted for digging. 



