42 



CLASS M A M M A L I A. 



ORDER-EDENTATA. 



ORDER VI. EDENTATA. TOOTHLESS. 



SOME of the animals composing this order are destitute of teeth in the 

 fore part of their jaws, while others are totally destitute of them. In the 

 Cuvierian system they are known as Edentata. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



PLATE 14. 

 Family SLOW-MOVERS; TarcKgrada. 



Gntu. Species . Common Name. 



Bradipus .... Tridactylus - - - AY or Three-toed Sloth. 

 Other Genera of this Family : Megalonyx, Megatherium. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. BRADYPUS (Gr. flpativs, slow, and xowc, a foot). Molar teeth cylin- 

 drical, canine, and pointed ; hind feet articulated obliquely with the legs ; 

 the toes furnished with long claws, enveloped in skin as far as the roots of 

 the nails ; fore extremities very long, so that in walking the animal trails 

 along on its elbows ; pelvis very wide, so as to prevent the apposition of 

 the knees. 



2. MEGALONYX (Gr. fttyas, great, and ovv, a claw). Molar tooth 

 cylindrical, simple, the interior bony, surrounded externally with enamel ; 

 claw-joints of the feet resembling those of the Sloth. 



3. MEGATHERIUM (Gr. /'y a c. great, and Bypiov, a beast). No cuspid 

 teeth ; four molars in each jaw : feet three-toed both in front and behind, 

 the toes of unequal size, and formed to support great claws ; tail, if any, 

 very short. 



TARDIGRADA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



BRADYPUS Sloth. Of all the animals in the creation, those which 

 compose this genus would seem to be the most ill-conditioned and 

 defenceless ; but they are not so, being equally well suited to the situation 

 in which they are placed, as those animals upon which nature has bestowed 

 more personal beauty and activity. They have derived their generic 

 name from the extreme tardiness of their motions. The stomach consists 

 of four pouches, which however are not plaited or corrugated as those of 

 ruminant animals ; and the intestinal canal is very short and without any 

 caecum. They live mostly on trees, and bring forth one at a birth, which 

 they carry on their backs. 



The Three-toed Sloth (B. Tridactylus) is about the size of a large Cat ; 

 head flat, with a blunt black nose ; small heavy eyes ; general colour dusky 

 brown ; tail short ; three long claws to each hand and foot ; the fore extre- 

 mities twice as long as the hinder. It is a native of South America, where it 

 lives among the trees, climbing with great labour ; and when it has procured 

 as much food as it chooses, it forms itself into a ball, and drops to the ground 

 to save the toil of descent. It has a very curious and plaintive cry, accord- 

 ing to Kircher, in an ascending and descending hexachord. It is very patient 

 of hunger, and one which had suspended itself on a pole lived without food 

 for forty days. (Plate 14). 



The Two-toed Sloth (B. Didactylus) is a native of America : a specimen 

 of it in the British Museum measures eleven inches. 



MEGALONYX. An extinct genus of animals, of which only one species 

 is known (M. Jeflersonii). 



MEGATHERIUM. Another extinct genus, the fossil remains of which 

 prove it to be the largest of any recent discoveries. Only one species 

 (M. Cuvieri) is known. The first specimen was found in September, 1789, 

 in the excavations on the banks of the river Luxan, near the town of that 

 name, about three leagues from Buenos Ayres, and at an elevation but 

 little more than nine feet above the level of the stream ; and from observa- 

 tions made then and subsequently on other specimens, it appears that the 

 Megatherium resembles the Sloths in the head and shoulder, and the Ant- 

 eaters and Armadillos in the singular commixture of the characters of the 

 legs and feet, hence occupying an intermediate station between the Sloths 

 and Armadillos. 



Family BANDED ; Cingtdata. 



This family is so named because its several members are marked by 

 rings or bands on the body and tail. Cingulata is from the Latin cingula, 

 "a girth." 



Genus. Speciei. Common Name. 



Dasypus - - Novemcinctus - - Nine-banded Armadillo or Tatou. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENUS. 



1. DASYPUS (Gr. Saotif, hairy, and irovt, afoot). Body covered with 

 a hard scaly coat, consisting of small compartments, and sometimes 

 extending over the head and tail ; the 

 parts not defended by scales slightly 

 covered with hairs ; snout long ; no 

 incisor or cuspidate teeth ; the molar 

 teeth cylindrical, at a distance from 

 each other, and numerous ; claws very 

 long, always five to the hind feet, and four or five to the fore feet. 



Head of Anninlillu. 



CINGULATA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



DASYPUS Armadillo. These curious animals are known to the inhabit- 

 ants of Guiana, by the name Tattu ; they live in holes in the earth, 

 which they are very expert in burrowing, and for which purpose their 

 large claws are very advantageous. 



The species are the Nine-banded Armadillo (D. Novemcinctus), about 

 three feet in length; the crusts on the shoulders and rump marked with 

 small hexagonal plates ; nine intermediate bands ; colour black ; breast 

 and belly covered with long hairs ; tail long, and covered with rings 

 throughout nearly its whole extent. Sometimes this animal lias but seven, 

 and at other times eight bands ; and is called, accordingly, Septemcinctus 

 or Octocinctus. (Plate 14.) 



Mr. Darwin speaks of four species ; one of which (the Mulitd) does not 

 come so far south as Bahia Bancha. The three met with in that quarter 

 are the Minutus or Pichy, the Villosas or Peludo, and the Apar. " In the 

 course of a day's ride, near Bahia Bancha," he says, " several [of the Pichy] 

 were met with. The instant one was perceived, it was necessary, in order 

 to catch it, almost to tumble off one's horse ; for in the soft soil the 

 animal burrowed so quickly, that its hinder quarters would almost disap- 

 pear before one could alight. It seems almost a pity to kill such nice 

 little animals, for, as a Gaucho said while sharpening his knife on the back 

 of one, ' Son tan mansos ' (they are so quiet)." 



The Three-banded Armadillo, shell about twelve inches long, the Six- 

 banded Armadillo, the Twelve-banded Armadillo, and the Great Armadillo, 

 some of which arrive at three feet in length, are all of this genus. 



Family ANT-EATERS ; Myrmecophagida. 

 So named from the nature of their prey /jw'p/jr;, an ant. 



Speciei. 



Genera. 



Common Name. 



Myrmecophaga - - Jubata - - Great Ant-eater. 



Manis ----- Macroura - - Long-tailed Pangolin or Manis. 



The genus Orycteropus, which is not now of this family, may, witli no 

 great impropriety, be introduced at the end. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. MYRMECOPHAGA (Gr. pvp/jLi)!-,, an ant, and <f>ayia, 1 eat). No teeth 

 of any kind; head not broader than the neck; nose much elongated and 

 roundish ; mouth very narrow ; tongue very long, roundish, and projec- 

 tile; body covered with coarse hair; tail of moderate length, in some 

 species prehensile; fore legs longer and stronger than hind legs, which 

 have four or five toes, whilst the former have only two or four, but all are 

 connected with each other as far as the claws, which are falcular, and 

 those of the fore legs very large. 



