166 TOOTHLESS MAMMALS 



home of a wonderful array of gigantic animals belonging to 

 this Order. In the La Plata Museum of Natural History is 

 a procession from the Past. It is a long row of earth-colored, 

 dome-like shells of great thickness, Some of them as large as 

 small hogsheads, and curiously ornamented by a scalloped 

 lower edge. Some are provided with huge tails that are 

 studded with many big, pointed knobs, called tubercles. 

 These curious objects are the remains of gigantic armadillos, 

 now extinct, called Glyp'to-dons, which once roamed over the 

 pampas of South America. 1 In many American museums 

 casts of the remains of one of these weird creatures may be 

 seen in what is known as the "Ward Casts of Fossils." The 

 shell of the Glyptodon copied in plaster by Professor Ward 

 is a nearly perfect dome, 5^ feet long, 4 feet wide and 40 

 inches high. 



With but one exception, the armadillo of to-day is a 

 small creature, finding shelter in burrows which it digs for 

 itself in the earth. Its movements are nervous and spas- 

 modic, and for a short distance it scurries over the ground 

 quite rapidly, running on the ends of its claws, and dodging 

 quite skilfully. Its legs are so short, however, it cannot run 

 far, and when about to be overtaken by a dangerous enemy, 

 it halts and burrows in the ground with wonderful rapidity. 

 It is not equipped for fighting, for it has no front teeth. Its 

 claws are fit only for digging, and since it cannot climb trees, 

 it prefers to live in burrows, on open prairies. 



But Nature has not left these creatures without protec- 



1 A large Glyptodon, 7 feet long, has recently been discovered in Texas, and 

 described by Professor H. F. Osborn as Glyptotherium texanum. 



