162 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



less. It is believed that they were clothed with a 

 scaly shield, like the Armadillo : the claws were of 

 enormous size. 



Dasypus,* the Armadillo. 



The very singular covering with which these ani- 

 mals are furnished, has been well compared to a 

 number of little paving stones, forming a suit of 

 shelly armour over the body, possessed, however, of 

 considerable flexibility from the number of the 

 joints. The number of teeth varies much, for while 

 one species, the Ninebanded (D. Novemcinctus), has 

 but twenty-eight, another, the Giant Armadillo 

 (D. Gigas), has the unrivalled number of ninety-six. 

 They feed on vegetables, or on insects ; and will not 

 reject carrion. They burrow with great readiness 

 and ease, and run quickly, but in an odd manner. 

 No one can have observed those in the Zoological 

 Gardens scuttling along, without having been struck 

 with the singularity of their motion. This is not 

 altogether owing to the nature of their covering, but 

 to the formation of the spine. The spinous pro- 

 cesses, or projections from the joints of the back- 

 bone, do not converge to one point or centre of 

 motion as they do in those animals which have great 

 flexibility of body : but " the progressive motion of 

 such animals is automaton-like ; the legs seem to 

 go by means of machinery, the action of which 

 affects no other part of the body. No inflexions 

 of the spine accompany the movements of the limbs ; 



-yj, dasys, hairy, and vrous , pous, a foot. 



