VERTEBRATA: MAMMALIA. 



6 75 



wards towards the palm or sole. There are sixteen pairs of 



ribs. The molars are - -, or = , rootless, growing from 



4 4 5 5 



permanent pulps, and consisting of a simple cylinder of den- 

 tine enveloped in cement. In the Unau (Cholazpus) the fore- 

 feet are two-toed, and there are twenty-three pairs of ribs, the 

 greatest number known in the Mammals. 



The second family of the Edentata is that of the Dasypodidce 

 or Armadillos. These are found exclusively in South America, 

 as are the Sloths, but they are very different in their habits. 

 The Armadillos are burrowing animals, furnished with strong 

 digging-claws and well -developed collar-bones. They feed 

 upon insects, worms, carrion, roots, and fruits. The jaws are 

 provided with numerous simple molars (fig. 372, B), which 

 attain the enormous number of nearly one hundred in the great 

 Armadillo (Priodontes gtgas). The upper surface of the body 

 is covered with a coat of mail, formed of hard bony plates or 

 shields united at their edges (fig. 374). A portion of this 



Fig- 374- The three-banded Armadillo (Tolypeiites conurus), one-third of the 

 natural size. (After Murie.) 



armour covers the head and shoulders, and another portion 

 protects the hind-quarters; whilst between these is generally 

 a variable number of movable bands which run transversely 



