742 EDENTATA. 



row from the back to the sides. The rest of the body is hidden by a 

 coat of rough irregular-shaped plates, each of which is composed of a 

 number of small irregular pieces. The color of the animal is a plumbous 

 gray, the skin between the rings is white, but dark on the lower side of 

 the body, where some very strong plates cover the upper parts of the 

 limbs. 



GENUS CHLAMYDOPHORUS. 



The PlCHlAGO, Chlamydophorus truncatus, is a native of Chili. 



The top of the head, the back, and the hind-quarters are covered 

 with a shelly plate, which runs unbroken to the haunches, over which it 

 dips suddenly, looking as if the creature had been chopped short by the 

 blow of a hatchet, and a piece of shell stuck on the cut extremity. The 

 remainder of the body is covered with long silken hair, very like that of 

 the mole in its soft texture. It is a very little creature, scarcely surpass- 

 ing the common mole in dimensions, and living, like that animal, almost 

 entirely below the surface of the earth. Its feet are formed for burrow- 

 ing, and are most powerful instruments for that purpose, though they are 

 not well fitted for rapid progress over the ground. 



Its food consists, as far as is known, of worms, and other subterra- 

 neous creatures, in addition to those which it may catch in its nocturnal 

 expeditions into the open air. As is the case with the mole and other 

 subterranean animals, the eyes are of minute dimensions, and are hidden 

 under the soft and profuse fur of the face. 



