Edentata — Armadillos, etc. 



73 



of Armadillo is placed in the case beside the gigantic extinct Glyptodon. 

 form for comparison. Glass-case, 



The banded and jointed Armadillo is represented by the Q- 



extinct genus Chlamydotherium, detached plates of the carapace 

 and bones of which have been found in abundance in the caves 

 of Minas Geraes, Brazil. It is supposed to be allied to the little Wall-case, 

 living " Mole Armadillo," Chlamydophorus. 



A nearly entire carapace and tail sheath, partly restored, of 

 Soplophorus, an allied but smaller genus of extinct Armadillos, is 

 exhibited in Wall-case 26. 



Several very perfect tail-sheaths, showing different patterns 

 of ornamentation, and referable to different genera of giant 

 Armadillos, are exhibited in the "Wall-case and in Glass-case Q. 



No. 26. 



Table- case, 

 No. 15a. 



Fig. ST. — Portion of the Tail-sheath of Hoplophoras from the Pleistocene of South 

 America, -g natural size. 



Judging by the numbers of remains of these large extinct 

 Edentata which have been collected from time to time, we have 

 evidence, not only of their great abundance and wide 

 geographical distribution in the tropical and subtropical wooded 

 regions of America, but also of the vast numbers of these huge 

 animals which must have perished in floods from their having 

 been unable to climb into trees to escape destruction, after the 

 manner of their modern representatives, the Tree-sloths and 

 Ant-eaters. 



Most of these remains have been obtained from the Pleistocene 

 deposits in the Argentine Republic ; but similar relics have also 

 been procured from Patagonia, Brazil, Uruguay, Chili, and 

 Bolivia, all in South America, and from nine different States 

 in the United States of ISbrth America. 



The Edentata, although so largely represented in America, 

 are not strictly confined to that region, but are represented in 

 South Africa by the " Cape Ant-eater " (the "Aard-Vark" of 

 the Dutch settlers), the "Pangolins" or Scaly Ant-eaters 

 belonging to the genus Manis, which have a very wide range 

 over the greater part of Africa, and in India from the Himalayas 

 to Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Southern China, Amoy, Hainan, and 

 Formosa. Remains of the Cape Ant-eater, Orycteropus (Pig. 88), 



