THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
differ greatly among themselves. All have numerous peglike 
teeth, and the giant armadillo (Priodon) may have more 
than forty in each jaw. 
The most distinctive feature of the group is the ‘‘quasi coat of mail,” 
as Theodore Gill calls it, in the form of a carapace, which covers all the back 
and sometimes the head and tail also. It is formed like a mosaic by the 
union of many small 
bony pieces formed 
within the skin and 
later overlaid by a 
horny pellicle. Each 
piece or “‘scute” of the 
mosaic has a_ shape 
and surface-sculpturing 
characteristic of the 
species. This armor 
may be all in one piece, 
but usually consists of 
several, giving needed 
flexibility to the body. 
gach fines On the abdomen and 
mame limbs, or wherever, in- 
Copyright, NY. Zool. Society. Sanhorn, Phot. deed, there is no armor, 
AN ARMADILLO, THE PELUDO. the skin is clothed with 
hairs, which also sprout 
out between the zones of plates. ‘‘The armor is doubtless useful against 
the attacks of their many carnivorous and reptile enemies. It assists them 
in burrowing, keeps off pressure, and may protect those which live in 
forests against a falling bough. They are passive creatures, mostly noc- 
turnal in their habits, and their skeleton is strengthened in some parts 
in relation to its armor and its office.” 
The most advanced of the armadillo race is the Brazilian one, 
about cighteen inches long, named Scleropeura, and given high- 
est place because it has almost no carapace, mere traces of armor 
mingling with the hair which clothes the body, so that it is 
approximated to the ant-eaters. 
Of the typical armadillos the leader is the ‘‘giant” armadillo 
of the Amazon Valley, which may measure three feet from its 
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