2l8 



EDENTATES. 



gradually increases in width to the hinder extremity of the body, where it is 

 abruptly truncated. Instead of being firmly attached to the body throughout its 

 extent, the mantle is only affixed along the line of the backbone, and consequently 

 lies quite loosely on the hairy sides of the body ; on the head it is, however, firmly 

 joined to the bones. There are usually about twenty transverse rows of plates in 

 the mantle ; and while the number of plates in each row at the hinder extremity of 

 the head varies from seven to eight, on the loins there may be as many as twenty- 

 four in a row. The abruptly truncated hinder extremity of the body is protected 

 by a solid shield, composed of firmly welded plates of bone, overlain by thin scales 

 of horn. This shield is slightly convex, and forms a segment of a circle, the centre 

 of which would be the notch in its inferior bolder through which protrudes the 

 tail. It is firmly welded to certain bony processes arising from the pelvis, and 



THE PICHICIAGO (\ nat. size). 



comprises five or six concentric rows of plates ; the number in the uppermost row 

 being about twenty, and that in the lowest only six. The entire shield is placed 

 in a nearly vertical plane. Both externally and internally the mantle is smooth 

 and devoid of hair. With the exception of the tail, the soles of the feet, the snout, 

 and the chin, which are nearly naked, the whole of the skin is covered with a coat 

 of long, silky hair, forming a fringe along the edges of the mantle. This hair is 

 longest on the flanks and limbs, and shortest on the upper surface of the feet, where 

 it is intermingled with wart-like masses of horn. The female pichiciago has a single 

 pair of teats situated on the breast, as in the armadillos. 



Distribution and The pichiciago is a rare animal, confined to the western part of 

 Mode of Life. Argentina, and is least uncommon in the neighbourhood of Mendoza ; 

 where, as elsewhere, it frequents open, sandy dunes, or their proximity, the 

 vegetation in such spots consisting of thorny brushwood and cacti. The best 

 account of the habits of this creature is given by Mr. E. W. White, who writes that, 

 when walking, the pichiciago " plants both the fore and hind-feet on the soles, and 



