134 



in them ; and had there been two or three, the keeper must have 

 been aware of it. 



The skeleton was exhibited of the Weasel-headed Armadillo, Da- 

 sypus Scinctus, Linn. ; and Mr. Owen read the following Notes on 

 the osteology of that species : — 



" After the minute and elaborate descriptions and comparisons 

 of the skeletons of the Dasypodce, which have been given by the 

 Baron Cuvier in the fifth volume of the ' Ossemens Fossiles,' but 

 little remains to be added on that subject. As, however, the ske- 

 leton of the iveasel-headed Armadillo, now before the Committee, has 

 been prepared, with great care, from one of the adult specimens 

 lately alive in the Society's Gardens, and as this species has been 

 much more rarely subjected to anatomical examination than the 

 nine-banded, a few observations on it may not be unacceptable. 



"The cranium presents the elongated conical form common to 

 the Dasypodce, tapering gradually towards the nose, but it is shorter, 

 broader and flatter than in Das. Peha. On the anterior part of the 

 OS J'rontis may be observed two broad but slightly raised emi- 

 nences wliich occupy the whole breadth of the bone : they are 

 most marked in the older subjects, where their smooth and shining 

 surface presents a remarkable contrast to the rest of the cranium, 

 which is sculptured by the perforations and canals of numerous 

 vessel;?. On removing the tliin layer of bone which formed the 

 convexity of one of these eminences, I found the cavity beneath 

 was principally a continuation of that of the cranium, and had 

 lodged the olfactory ganglions. The rest of the cavity anteriorly 

 was occupied by a very large and complicated turbinated process 

 of the ethmoidal bone ; the cribriform plate of the same bone was 

 observed to be of great extent, and the whole structure displayed 

 the high degree in which this animal is endowed with the sense of 

 smell. These eminences are described by Cuvier as being more 

 developed in the Cabassou, Das. unicinctus, Gmel. They corre- 

 spond in situation to those which render the os Jrontis of Chlamy- 

 p/iorus so peculiar. 



<' The number of vertebra; and the length of each division of the 

 vertebral column are as follows : 



No. 



Cervical 7 



Dorsal ." . . . II 



Lumbar 3 



Sacral 8 



Caudal 16 



« The cervical vertebrce present the peculiarity observable in the 

 other species of this tribe, that of being partially anchylosed to- 

 gether. In this instance the axis and the 3rd and 4 th verle/jr<e are 

 so joined ; the lines of division between the two former being indi- 

 cated only by the lateral orifices for the nerves, which are two on 

 each side.' This anchylosis of the cervical vertebrce is also found. 



