TWELVE-BANDED ARMADILLO. 193 



angular divisions; the crust on the shoulders into 

 oblong pieces inclining to a squarish form : that 

 on the rump into hexagonal ones ; (the Count de 

 Buffon describes them as square, though hexa- 

 gonal in the figure) : the fore feet have five toes, 

 with very large and strong claws : the hind feet 

 have the same number,, but smaller: the tail is 

 somewhat shorter than the body; and is said by 

 Buffon to have no crustaceous* covering; differ- 

 ing, in that respect, from every other species : his 

 figure represents it covered with roundish tuber- 

 cles. The length of this animal, from the 'nose 

 to the tail, is about a foot ; the tail about seven 

 inches, or less. 



Var. ? 



GREATER TWELVE-BANDED ARMADILLO. 



This, which is by far the largest of all the Ar- 

 madillos, differs from the former in the pattern of 

 the shield on the interior and hinder part of the 

 body; all the divisions consisting of oblong 

 squares : the tail also differs, being longer than 

 the body. The measures of the specimen de- 

 scribed and figured by Buffon, are thus given, 



* By this, however, we are by no means to understand that the 

 tail is merely covered by skin j on the contrary, it is guarded by 

 scaly tubercles, which secure it almost as strongly as the armour on 

 that of other species j and, indeed, the chief difference is, that these 

 strong tubercles are not, strictly speaking, set in jointed rings, 

 but scattered. 



v. i. 13 



