BRADVPODIDE 179 
vorous, and gradually separated into the purely vegetable and 
purely animal feeders; from the former are developed the modern 
Sloths, from the latter the Anteaters. The Armadillos (Dasypodide) 
are another modification of the same type, retaining some 
generalised characters, as those of the alimentary organs, but in 
other respects, as in their defensive armature, remarkably special- 
ised. The two Old World families Manide and Orycteropodide are 
so essentially distinct, both from the American families and from 
each other, that it may even be considered doubtful whether they 
are derived from the same primary branch of mammals, or whether 
they may not be offsets of some other branch, the remaining 
members of which have been lost to knowledge. Further remarks on 
this point are recorded under the description of the Orycteropodide.+ 
Family BRADYPODIDZ. 
Externally clothed with long, coarse, crisp hair. Head short 
and rounded. External ears inconspicuous. Teeth $ in each jaw, 
subcylindrical, of persistent growth, consisting of a central axis of 
vaso-dentine, with a thin investment of hard dentine, and a thick 
outer coating of cement ; without (so far as is yet known) any suc- 
cession. Clavicles present. Fore limbs greatly longer than the 
hind limbs. All the extremities terminating in narrow, curved 
feet; the digits never exceeding three in number, encased for 
nearly their whole length in a common integument, and armed 
with long strong claws. Tailrudimentary. Stomach complex. No 
cecum. Uterus simple and globular. Placenta deciduate, dome-like, 
composed of an aggregation of numerous discoidal lobes. Strictly 
1 An attempt has been made to represent these views by the following 
classification : 
Order EDENTATA, 
Suborder Pinosa. 
Bradypodide. 
Megatheriide. 
Myrmecophagide. 
Suborder Loricara. 
Dasypodide. 
Suborder SQUAMATA. 
Manide. 
Suborder TUBULIDENTATA. 
Orycteropodide. 
It may be objected to this arrangement that the present divergence between 
the Sloths and Anteaters is hardly sufficiently indicated by their association in 
one suborder.—Flower, ‘‘On the Arrangement of the Orders and Families of 
Mammals,” Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 178. 
