MAMMALIA—ARMADILLO. 269 
fore legs. ‘Come, poor fellow,’ said I to him, ‘if thou hast got into a 
hobble to day, thou shalt not suffer for it; I’lltake no advantage of thee in 
misfortune; the forest is large enough both for thee and me to rove in; go 
thy ways up above, and enjoy thyself in these endless wilds; it is more 
than probable thou wilt never have another interview with man. So, fare 
thee well.’ On saying this, I took up a large stick which was lying there, 
held it for him to hook on, and then conveyed him to a high and stately 
mora. He ascended with wonderful rapidity, and in about a minute he was 
almost at the top of the tree. He now went off in aside direction, and 
caught hold of the branch of a neighboring tree; he then proceeded towards 
the heart of the forest; I stood looking on, lost in amazementat his singular 
mode of progress. I followed him with my eye till the intervening branches 
closed in betwixt us; and then I lost sight forever of the two-toed sloth. I 
was going to add, that 1 never saw a sloth take to his heels in such earnest ; 
but the expression will not do, for the sloth has no heels,” 
THE SIX-BANDED ARMADILLO. 
Unver the general name of armadillo, we may reckon several species 
which seem to us really distinct; in all of them the animal is protected by 
a crust resembling bone ; it covers the head, the neck, the back, the flanks, 
the buttocks, and the tail to the very extremity. This crust is covered out 
wardly by a thin skin, sleek and transparent; the only parts that are not 
sheltered by this buckler,’are the throat, the breast, and the belly, which 
presents a white grainy skin, like that of a plucked fowl ; and, in consider- 
ing these parts with attention, you will perceive the appearance of scales 
which are of the same substance as the crust. This crust is, however, not 
1 Dasypus sexcinctus, Lin. The genus Dasypus has two upper and four lower inciso1s, 
sometimes nene ; molars varying in the several species from twenty-eight to sixty-eight, 
simple, cyimdrical, separate, without enamel on the inner side; head long; mouth and 
eyes small; body enveloped ina hard scaly shell in three compartments covering the 
head, body, and tail, with moveable transverse bands between them; five toes on the hind 
feet ; four or five on the fore feet, with long nails for digging. : 
