312 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



Dr. Harlan, in conclusion, I have gone through with the 

 detail of the organization of this most singular quadruped. 

 During the investigation I have had frequent occasion to 

 admire those laws of co-existence which regulate the struc- 

 ture of organized beings; nature, true to herself, in this 

 as in all other instances, has pursued an undeviating course. 

 We have been presented in the subject before us with a 

 new form : an animal combining in its external configura- 

 tion a mechanical arrangement of parts which characterizes 

 respectively the Armadillo, the Sloth, and the Mole, con- 

 stituting in themselves individually and separately, of all 

 other quadrupeds, those which offer the most remarkable 

 anatomical characters. Pursuing the investigation step by 

 step with the skeletons of the above-mentioned animals 

 before me, it was not till I had completely finished every 

 point of observation, that I perceived in the skull alone of 

 the new animal, a reunion more or less complete of all 

 those remarkable traits that an external view of the animal 

 had offered for contemplation, which, taken collectively, 

 furnishes us with an example of organic structure, if not 

 unparalleled, at least, not surpassed in the history of 

 animals. 



The most peculiar and unique characters consist — 1st, In 

 the general contour of the animal; 2nd, In the form, tex- 

 ture, and disposition of its scaly cloak, which would very 

 much confine the power of flexion and extension of the 

 body, and nearly altogether impede lateral motion ; the 

 greatest freedom of motion would consist in the extension 

 of the head on the body ; 3rd, In the position of the organs 

 of generation ; 4th, In the form, structure, position, and 

 use of the tail ; 5th, In the peculiar and complicated struc- 

 ture of the feet and claws ; 6th, In the structure of the 

 organ of hearing; 7th, In the bony protuberance of the 

 osfrontis; 8th, In the disposition of the teeth; 9th, In the 



