﻿DR J. MURIE ON THE THREE-BANDED ARiMADILLO. 



•i 



in outline ; it is also miicli flattened from above dowiiTvarcls at the base ; but towards tlie 

 extremity 'it is flattened in tlie rererse way, or from side to side. 



The scales are arranged quinciincially rather than in regular zones. On tlie dorsal 

 surface of the middle and basal parts of the tail there are coarse rounded tubercles, 

 separated by widish intervals, while on the under surface and the extremity these are 

 flattened and overlapping plates. A space on the middle and under surface of the tail, 

 for a distance of 0-9 of an inch from the anus, is smooth and dev oid of scales. At the 

 root of the tail the scutes are so arranged as to form a kind of lateral ridges. 



Numbers of Scutes.— On my examination of the carapace of Tolypeutes, in the first 

 instance, I did not deem it of importance to count with precision the total number of 

 scalc-covered osseous pieces composing the cuirass. Subsequently, on studying Biir- 

 meister's masterly memoirs, I foimd he had computed the number of tesserse associated 

 in the coat of mail in some of the great fossil Glyptodonts. By this time I had cut up 

 my three-banded Dasypode ; and what with injury to the pieces, and inherent difficulty 

 of mastering count of the smaller units of dermal armour, what I here reckon must be 

 taken as but an approximation pour servir. Thus on the cephalic shield I made out 

 some thirty on the t9p, and twenty of unequal sizes round the edges, or about fifty 

 in all; on the scapular shield at least 340, whereof seventy are marginal. On the 

 three mo-vable zones the numbers already mentioned are equivalent to seventy-nme. 

 The pelvic shield contains close upon, if not somewhat more than 360 pieces, including 

 those of the ischial arches. The tail, with great and small bony scutes, has no less than 

 130. In rough computation, then, the total number of segments or tesserae would be 960, 

 or possibly even between that and 1000. 



3. Special Receptacles for Limhs cmd Tail. 



Chamber for icithdrawal of Fore Limbs.— The outer surface of the shoulder is perfectly 

 free, and covered with integument bearing very long brown hairs as far as the- spine of 



hield. A 



nly then reflected on to the inner side of the scapular shield, a 

 ned between the shoulder and pectoral shield, into which the fore 



the scapula, and 

 chamber is thus formed 

 limb can be retracted 



This chamber is bounded behind by the integument which passes from the hinder part 

 of the thorax to the inner side of the second free zone. As already .mentioned, the inner 

 wall of this chamber is constituted by the integument of the shoulder, and is covered 

 with very long hairs, between two and three inches in length, which proceed from the 

 ♦dges of the oval horny scales of 0"-15 magnitude. In this respect the inner waU of the 

 chamber presents a striking contrast to the outer wall, which is almost smooth. H^' 

 but a few such .scales scattered here and there until towards its convex part, where there 

 are some three or four rows of small horny plates, forming a kind of continuation of tue 

 l^oniy plates of the proper scapular shield M. fig. 8). 



abdoLr^T '^"^ '''^'' '^'^""'^ ^^ ^^^ f^^-e Hmbs and the thorax, the front part o 

 and m or; 1 'T '^^ ^^^^^ ''''^^''' ^^ ^^^ hind limbs, are covered with long J ^ 



more or less distinct scales. The root of the penis and circumference of anus, boW 



a most free from these appendages : and upon the penis itself the loose an 



fth 



^-tegument is devoid of hair or scales 



