190 LAND MAMMALS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 



attached to one another by their edges, and between the two 

 is a series of movable, overlapping bands, the number of which 

 varies in the different genera. In the little Pichiciago {Chlamy- 

 dophorus truncatus) the head and back are covered with four- 

 sided plates of horn, the bony scutes being small and thin and 

 much reduced. The carapace has no bucklers, but about 20 

 transverse rows of plates, and is attached along only the middle 

 line of the back and beneath it the body is covered with silky, 



Fig. 112. — Nine-banded Armadillo (Tatu novemcinctus) . — By permission of the 

 N.Y. Zoolog. Soc. 



white fur ; the rump is covered with a solid shield of bone, 

 placed nearly vertically and covered with thin scales, and is 

 notched below for the tail, altogether a most exceptional 

 arrangement. Seven or more distinct genera of armadillos 

 are found in the Neotropical region and they display a great 

 range in size ; the Giant Armadillo of Brazil (Priodontes) is 

 a yard or more in length, while the little Zaedyus of Patagonia 

 is smaller than a rabbit and, least of all, the Pichiciago is but 

 five inches long. 



Two families of marsupials occur in South America. The 

 opossums are much more numerous and varied than in North 

 America ; three genera and a large number of species, some 

 not larger than mice, range through the forested parts of the 

 continent. Of particular interest is the little Ccmolestes, 



