EDENTATA. 143 
of the skeleton, partly the sloths, and partly the ant-eaters. It is twelve 
feet long, and six or seven high. The other, the Mecatonyx, Ib. p. 
160, is rather smaller, and the toes are the only parts of it that are well 
known, but they strongly resemble those of the preceding. 
The second tribe comprehends the 
EDENTATA ORDINARIA, 
Or the Ordinary Edentata, with a pointed muzzle. Individuals amongst 
them still have molars. They form two genera. 
Dasyrus, Lin. 
The Armadillos, or Tatous,* are very remarkable among all the Mam- 
malia, by the scaly and hard shell, formed of compartments resembling 
little paving-stones, which covers their head and body, and frequently 
their tail. This substance forms a shield over the forehead, another very 
large and convex over the shoulders, a third on the croup, similar to the 
second, and between the two latter, several parallel and moveable bands, 
which allow the body to bend. ‘The tail is at one time furnished with 
successive rings, and at another, like the legs, merely with several tuber- 
cles. These animals have large ears, and sometimes four, and at others 
five great nails before, but always five behind. The muzzle is pointed, 
the grinders are cylindrical, seven or eight in number throughout, separ- 
ated from each other, and without enamel on the inside. The tongue is 
smooth, and but slightly extensible, and there are a few scattered hairs 
between their scales, or on those parts of the body not covered by the 
shell. They dig for themselves burrows, and live partly on vegetables, 
and partly on insects and dead bodies; their stomach is simple, and there 
is no cecum. ‘They all belong to the hot, or at least to the temperate 
parts of America. 
They may be divided into subgenera according to the structure of their 
fore feet and the number of their teeth. Most of them have only four 
toes to the anterior feet, the two stele ones of which are the longest. 
In this number some 
Faerie Cuv. 
Cachicames have only seven teeth on each side, and in each jaw. 
The muzzle is pointed; the tail long, and encircled with bony rings; 
such is 
Dasypis novemcinctus, L.; Cachichame, Buff. X, xxxvii; Tatou 
a longue queue, Id. Supp. ILI, lviii; T'atwete, Schreb. Ixxiii; T'atu- 
peba, Margr. (The Nine-banded, or Black Armadillo). With 
nine, sometimes eight intermediate bands, generally blackish; the 
body fifteen inches in length, and the tail the same. 
Das. 7-cinctus; Schreb. LXXIL; Tatow mulet, Azzar. (The 
* Tatou is their Brazilian name. The Spaniards called them Armadillo, from 
their armour; the Portuguese, Eneuberto, for the same reason. They are also called 
Quirquincho. Dasypus (hairy feet) was one of the Grecian appellatives of the hare 
or rabbit. 
