QUATERNARY 



671 



The edentates roamed over South America, and some members of 

 the tribe (Megalonyx and Mylodon) over a large portion of the 

 United States. The finding in Patagonia of a large piece of skin (of 

 Grypotherium) covered with hair, whose edges showed the marks of 

 tools and seems to have been stripped off the carcass by man, indi- 

 cates that some members of the tribe were alive a comparatively 

 short time ago. But the evidence that man was contemporaneous 

 with the giant sloths in North America is not conclusive. 



Another edentate of very different appearance, which is distantly 

 related to the armadillo, is Glyptodon (Greek, glyptos, carved, and 



Fig. 579. — The great armored sloth, Glyptodon. (After Prof. W. D. Scott, 

 History of Land Mammals.) 



odont-, tooth) (Fig. 579). The body was covered with a bony 

 shell, similar in appearance to that of a tortoise, but made up of a 

 large number of small, polygonal bones united to form an immovable 

 armature, so that this sloth has been called the tortoise armadillo. 

 Not only was the body protected, but the tail also was surrounded 

 by bony plates, and the top of the head was similarly armored. The 

 animals grew to be 15 to 16 feet long. In their migrations they 

 reached Texas and Florida. 



REFERENCES FOR EDENTATES 



Hutchinson, H. N., — Extinct Monsters and Creatures of Other Days, pp. 283-293. 

 Lankester, E. R., — Extinct Animals, pp. 167-184. 



CLELAND GEOL. — 43 



