8 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



Eiiphracttis minuhts Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, 377, fig. skull. 



Dasypus [Tatitsia] minntus Burmeister, Desc. phys. Rep. Argent., Ill, 



1879, 440. 

 Zaedyiis minntus, Ameghino, Contr. al Conoc. Mam. fos. Rep. Argent., 



1889, 867. 

 Tatusia liybrida Hatcher, Narrative Patagonian Exped., I, 1903, 116. 

 Habits and distribution. 



General color of cephalic shield and carapace dark brown, irregularly 

 varied with lighter, the lateral edges of both areas much lighter, pale 

 yellow or whitish, particularly the lateral row of plates on the carapace ; 

 tail yellowish, mottled with darker ; posterior edge of dorsal plates thickly 

 set with very short fine blackish hairs, interspersed with long yellow^ish 

 brown and whitish bristles, 40 to 50 mm. long, thinly veiling the carapace ; 

 below thickly clothed with long rather coarse hairs, yellowish white on the 

 ventral surface, brownish on the shoulders and thighs ; sides of head thickly 

 covered with fine short dark brown hairs, forming a broad lateral band. 



Measurements. — Adult male, total length, 395 mm.; tail, 140; hind 

 foot, 63; ear (in dry skin), 14. Adult female, total length, 390; tail, 120; 

 hind foot, 60. Skull, total length, 68-70 ; zygomatic breadth, 39-42 ; 

 mastoid breadth, 35-37. 



Represented by 6 specimens (two immature), collected by Mr. Colburn 

 near Swan Lake, March 5 and 6, and by one specimen collected by Mr. 

 Barnum Brown, near the junction of the Rio Chico and the Rio Santa Cruz. 



This species, like other Armadillos, varies greatly in cranial characters 

 with age, as shown by the three skulls figured on Plate III, where Fig. 

 \-\b represents the skull of an animal about half grown; Fig. 2-2^, a 

 skull of a much older animal, and apparently full grown to judge by the 

 appearance of the skull ; Fig. 3-3^^ represents the skull of a very old 

 individual, the skull being much larger, very heavily ossified, and dispro- 

 portionately broader than either of the others. Compared with full-grown 

 middle-aged specimens, it differs from the latter so strikingly that, without 

 intermediate specimens, it might readily be mistaken for a different species. 



According to Mr. Hatcher's observations, the Rio Santa Cruz forms the 

 southern boundary of the range of the species, whence it extends north- 

 ward to Paraguay and northern Argentina. 



Mr. Hatcher in referring to the animal life of the country bordering the 

 low'er Rio Chalia, chronicles (Narrative, pp. 116, 117) his first meeting 



