Development of the Nine-Banded Armadillo. 363 



of some of the more important questions involved. He was espec- 

 ially fortunate in securing in a good state of preservation two very 

 young embryonic vesicles in which the demarkation of the several 

 embryonic primordia had not yet manifested itself. For the equi- 

 valent of this stage we have looked in vain and hence,. for the pre- 

 sent at any rate, are compelled to rely on Fernandez's description 

 for an explanation of our own earliest stages. Since it is neces- 

 sary constantly to refer to Fernandez's work in the body of the 

 text no further comment of an introductory character is needed 

 here. 



At this point it becomes necessary to refer to our own pre- 

 liminary report in order to correct the description of fig. 3 in 

 that paper. The specimen there figured was presented to us 

 with the statement that it was intact in every respect, except 

 that the uterus and the contained vesicle had been slit open along 

 the mid- ventral line. On the basis of this statement, together 

 with a study of the external features, we reconstructed the vesicle 

 in situ. Our subsequent investigations of fresh specimens has 

 led us to suspect that what we took to be a young vesicle was in 

 reality only the villous portion of a somewhat later stage. 



B. Material and Methods 



During the past two years we have had the opportunity of 

 examining 137 females of the native armadillo, together with a 

 considerable number of males. During the breeding season hun- 

 ters employed to collect material for us covered a wide range of 

 territory in south-central Texas. These men were frequently 

 obliged to haul the living animals through rough country for dis- 

 tances of fifty miles or more in order to reach an express office 

 whence they could be shipped to our laboratories. As a rule 

 a number of days elapsed between the capture of the annuals 

 and their arrival in Austin. This delay would serve in part to 

 explain our ill success in securing the earliest embryonic stages. 

 In order to obtain a complete series we believe it will be necessary 

 either to breed the animals in captivity or to accompany the hun- 

 ters on their expeditions so as to lose no time in examiningjfreshly 



