THE MOUSE 



441 



most numerous in the tropics, but the Virginian opossum 

 ranges north to New York. 



The third division of the Mammalia includes all of its re- 

 maining orders. These orders will be briefly considered in the 

 following paragraphs. 



The sloths and alhes constitute a group that either have 

 no teeth or imperfect ones. Here are associated with the 



Fig. 399. — The opossum, Didelphijs virginiana. After Vogt and Specht. 



sloths the hairy ant-eaters, armadillos, scaly ant-eaters, and 

 African ant-eaters. The three first-named families inhaljit 

 South America; the two latter, Asia and Africa. Here 

 again, the discontinuitj' of the group indicates, what fossils 

 prove, that the Edentata ' (as this group is named) have 

 been killed off from the connecting continents. The sloths 

 have cutting teeth, hve in trees, and eat leaves (Fig. 400). 



^ €, without ; dens, dentis, tooth. 



