MAMMALIA. BRUTA. Armadillo. 109 



Inhabits Brafil. — Lives on melons, potatoes, and poultry. The middle belt, in the armour of this 

 fpecies, is very narrow ; and each fcale, of which the fhields are compofcd, is knobbed on the fur- 

 face : The head is oblong and almoft pyramidal ; the eyes are {mall; the ears fhort and rounded ; 

 and the top of the head is covered by a helmit of one piece : All the feet have five toes ; the two 

 middle claws on the fore feet are very large, the claws on each fide of thefe are fmaller, and the fifth, 

 or exterior claw, is very fmall ; the claws on the hind feet are fmaller, and more equal in fize, than 

 thofe before : The body is a foot long, and eight inches broad; the tail is not above two inches long, 

 and entirely covered with cruft : The fhields, on the fhoulJers and rump, confift of five cornered 

 pieces, very regularly arranged ; the three moveable girdles are compofed of fquare or oblong pieces, 

 having a number of lenticular fcales, of a yellowifh white colour, on each. 



151 2. Four-banded Armadillo. — 4. Da/ypus quadricincius. 3. 



Has four moveable bands. 



Cataphradtus quadricinchis, having two fhields and four belts. BrifT. quad. 25. — Cheloniicus. 

 Fab. Columna, anim. aqu. et ter. ii. 15. t. 16. 



Its place uncertain. — Dr Gmelin is uncertain whether this fhould be confidered as a diftincT: fpecies, 

 or merely as a variety of the Apara ? He is likewife at a lofs whether the Four-banded Armadillo of 

 Molina, Hift. Nat. Chil. lib. iv. 270. be the fame with this, or if it fhould be confidered as a diftincl 

 fpecies. — The Count de Buffon is very angry with Linnaeus for admitting this four-banded fpecies on 

 the authority of Columna, who did not know the name of the animal, and had only feen a dried fpe- 

 cimen contracted in form of a ball, pafted clumfily together, and even fome pieces of it wanting. 

 Buffon even peremptorily infills that a Four-banded Armadillo has no exiftence in nature: The cir- 

 cumftance, however, of fuch a fpecies being mentioned by Molina, though not with fufficient accu- 

 racy to enable Dr Gmelin to give a fyftematic defcription, fllows how much even Buffon ought to 

 have been guarded in animadverting on Linnaeus. 



152 3. Encouberto. — 5. Da/ypus /excinclus. 4. 



Has fix moveable girdles, and five toes on every foot. Muf. Ad. Fr. 7. Schreber, ii. 218. 

 tab. Ixxi. B. 



Cataphraftus fexcinclus, having two fhields and fix belts. Briff. quad. 25. — Firft Tatu, or Ar- 

 madillo of Marcgrave. Raj. quad. 233. — Tatu, or Tatu-paba, of the Brafilians, Armadillo, of the 

 Spanifh, and Encouberto, of the Portuguefe. Marcgr. Braf. 231. Olear. Muf. 7. t. 6. f. 4. Cluf. 

 exot. 330. — Encouberto. Sm. Buff. v. 369. pi. civ. — Six-banded armadillo. Penn. hift. of quad, 

 n. 362. 



Inhabits South America. — Lives on melons and other fruits, and on potatoes and other roots, be- 

 ing exceedingly troublefome to the plantations : Is very good eating. The penis is very confpicuous 

 and fpiral, having a fiat compreffed glans, with thickened edges ; the back of the neck is cov red by 

 a particular little fhield. This is larger than the former fpecies. The top of the head, the neck s 

 body, limbs, and tail, are covered with a very hard cruft, compofed of pretty large pieces, moft ele- 

 gantly placed; on the fkin of the joints are feveral whitifh hairs, fimilar to thofe on th< tl \ sat, breafiy 

 and belly ; the fhield on the rump has a fringed border ; all the inferior parts of the body are cover- 

 ed 



