Fig. 311. ARMADILLO. 



MAMMALIA, 409 



any other part of the globe. They extend from the banks of 



the Orinoco, through the whole of South America, and occupy 



the lower regions of 



the Andes, to the 



same elevation as the 



Sloths, about 3,000 



feet.* Their food is 



partly of animal and 



partly of vegetable 



substances and fruits. 



One species known as 



the Giant Armadillo, 



is more than three feet in length. The others are small in 



size, and compared with the remains of an extinct species, f now 



in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, London, are as 



diminutive as the existing Tortoises, contrasted with the remains 



of that colossal species already mentioned (ante, p. 294) from 



the Himalayan mountains. 



The Sloths (Bradypus), of which there are only four 

 species, are found from the southern limits of Mexico to Rio 

 de Janiero. | Their food consists exclusively of leaves and 

 fruits. The Sloth has been spoken of by naturalists of high 

 reputation as disproportioned in its parts, grotesque, imperfect, 

 to whom existence must be a burthen. Such opinions have 

 been exploded by a better knowledge of the habits of the 

 animal. It is not destined to live upon the earth, but among 

 the branches of trees, and not on them like the Squirrel, but 

 under them. These things being known, its supposed defects 

 turn out in reality to be perfections; and all its structural 

 peculiarities but so many new adaptations of the animal frame 

 to new functions, each declaring how presumptuous is man, 

 who in his ignorance dares to question the consummate wisdom 

 and perfection displayed in all the works of Nature. 



We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. R. Ball, the zea- 



* Berghalis and Johnston's Atlas. 



f It is fully described by Professor Owen in a separate memoir, and 

 named Glyptodon, from the Greek Glyptos sculptured, odous tooth. 

 Dasypus, from the Greek dasys hairy, pous a foot. 



J Bradypus Gr. Iradys, tardy, slow ; pous, a foot, being nearly the same 

 as the Latin term Tardigradus, slow-paced. 



Some of the flesh-eaters being in the habit of rooting for their food, have 

 been termed Effodientia, or diggers. These terms are not in. all cases 

 descriptive of the habits. 



