194 TWELVE-BANDED ARMADILLO. 



viz. from nose to tail two feet ten inches, and the 

 tail about one foot eight inches. This, Mr. Pen- 

 nant says, is the largest he ever heard of: in the 

 British Museum, however, is a specimen of ex- 

 actly similar dimensions, and which is accurately 

 represented on the annexed plate. The head is 

 rather small than large; and the snout is sharp- 

 ish : the ears small and sharp : the claws exces- 

 sively large and strong. The bands, which are 

 thirteen in number, are scarce distinguishable 

 from the rest of the armour, which both before 

 and behind is marked out into narrow zones, di- 

 vided into numerous oblong squares : these bands 

 on the fore part of the animal are narrower or 

 more closely set than on the hind part, and the 

 whole exactly agrees with Buffon's figure entitled 

 Autre Kabassou (vol. 10. pi. 41.) The colour of 

 the whole animal is a pale yellowish-grey. 



The figures given in plate 30. vol. 1. of Seba, 

 seem to be young ones, and consequently do not 

 exhibit with sufficient distinctness some of the 

 characters : their heads seem remarkably thick or 

 blunt ; and the tail of one of them is represented 

 as perfectly void of any covering; of the other 

 covered with square scaly divisions : the ears in 

 both very large. 



