374 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



was thus enabled to strip off the leaves and smaller 

 branches, which the absence of teeth in the front of 

 the jaw left to be performed by such agency. Every 

 contrivance was introduced to fit these animals for 

 the performance of certain offices in the ancient 

 forests of South America, which are now executed 

 by a multitude of smaller animals, not very dissimilar 

 in many points of structure. 



The megatheroid animals, however, are not the 

 only gigantic species of the edentate order living at 

 this period. Associated with them was an arma- 

 dillo, almost as colossal in its proportions and quite 

 as anomalous in its structure. This animal has been 

 called the Glyptodon* and it exhibits in the compli- 

 cated structure of its teeth an approach rather to 

 the pachydermatous type shewn in the Toxodon than 

 to the megathere or the existing armadilloes, while 

 in other respects it seems to have connected the 

 edentates with the heavy-coated rhinoceros. 



The Glyptodon, like the armadillo, was covered and 

 defended by a shell not unlike a coat of mail, made 

 up of round or many-sided pieces, fitting one another 

 accurately, continuous over the whole of the upper 

 part of the body, and covering the upper surface of 

 the thick and powerful tail. The armour is massive 

 and very heavy, and when detached from the body 

 resembles a barrel. 



The bones of the leg and foot, perfectly adapted 

 to bear the steady pressure of an enormous weight, 

 are extremely interesting. They present the frame- 

 work of a foot of such structure and form as is 

 without a parallel in the animal kingdom, so admi- 



* r\V7TTO (glyptos), sculptured ; odovg (odoits), tooth. 



