94 MAMMALIAN DESCENT. Lect. IV. 



richly endowed witli specialising force ; nature working 

 by, or rather in them, has produced marvels of organic 

 growth and architecture, but this has been mainly for 

 purposes of safety. Here, however, we meet with what 

 is not seldom seen in human life, where the finest forms 

 are not always the fittest for permanency. Especially 

 is this the case where the body has been fed at the 

 expense of the brain. 



Why such a form as the Glyptodon should have failed 

 to keep his ground is a great mystery ; nature seems to 

 have built him, as Eome was built, — ^for eternity. 



His exquisite little relative — the Chlamydophorus — 



Fig. 10.— Embryo (one third ripe) of 9-banded Armadillo (Tatusia 

 " (), a little above natural size. 



scarcely larger than a Mole, has continued as yet to run 

 out of danger, safe in his littleness; and many other 

 kinds of low-brained Mammals have, so to speak, the 

 power to make themselves practically invisible. 



The living Armadillos are not all " minims of 

 nature," although none of them can compete with their 



