THE PICHICIAGO. 



189 



bone ; this will tend, when it contracts, to pull out the legs and protrude the fore part of the body, the 

 centre being still rigid. Another drawer-back of the bladebone assists in this action, and it is inserted 

 into the front or chest shield. The rolling up is done by the action of muscles which draw the nose 

 down, so as to make the long head at right angles to the neck ; then the fore-legs and bladebones 

 are drawn in and up. At the same time, the muscles which pull down the tail act on the hind shield, 

 and draw it down and forwards. The legs are pulled up, and then a great muscle, which is largely 

 attached to the front and hind shields, and has a tendon-like expansion in the middle of its course 

 beneath the movable bands, contracts and pulls front and stern together. The muscles of the loins, 

 which in jumping animals bring the spine to a curve, do not act, and indeed are excessively small. 

 The chief bend in the back is between the second and third lumbar vertebrae. (Murie.) 



GENUS CHLAMYDOPHORUS.-THE PICHICIAGO.* 



This is an Edentate animal, resembling the Armadillos more than any others, and is about six 

 inches in length. It has a conical-shaped head, a large full chest, short clumsy powerful fore limbs, 



PICHICIAGO. 



with four great nails rising gradually one above the other, the external shortest, and broadest ; and 

 the whole so arranged as to form a sharp-cutting instrument, rather scooped, and veiy convenient for 

 progression under ground. The back and croup are broad and high, and the tail is small. The hind legs 

 are weak and short, the feet being long and narrow, and there is a well-defined heel. The foot is 

 arched, the toes are separate, and the nails are strong. The whole surface of the body is covered with 

 fine silk-like hair, which covers over the limbs on to the palms. But the most striking peculiarity is the 

 long-banded shell, which is loose as it were throughout, being attached to the back immediately above 

 the spine by cellular tissue. It rests on two knobs on the frontal bones, and these are the great attach- 

 ments of this important covering. There are twenty-four bands and no separate shields, and their 

 consistence is somewhat more dense than leather of the same thickness. They are composed of 

 scales or plates of geometrical form, and the bands are separated by skin. There is a notch in the 

 last band for the tail, and the free inferior edges of the bands are everywhere fringed with silky hair. 

 This elongated band structure is moved, to a certain extent, by two broad thin muscles, which are 

 beneath it, on the back, and each of which divides, on approaching the shoulder, into two portions, one 

 being attached to the bladebone, and the other to the occiput. 



The ear is hidden by hair, and is small ; so also is the eye, which is black. The nostrils open 



downwards, at the inferior border of a large cartilage. The mouth is small, and there are eight teeth 



on both sides in both jaws. They are simple molars, and are separate and cylindrical. The head 



is large behind, and the jaws come almost to a point, and the lower has a long ascending ramus. A 



,Q * Chla,mydophorus truncatus (Harlan). 



