468 
YERTEBRATA. 
rest of its length. The claws are remarkably long and powerful. This species inhabits Brazil 
and the northern parts of Paraguay. It is never found in the open country, but keeps close to 
the great forests, and burrows with surprising facility. Those who are employed in collecting the 
Jesuit's bark frequently meet with it in the Avoods, and report that when any of their compan- 
ions happen to die at a distance from the settlements, they are obliged to surround the body with 
a double row of stout planks to prevent it from being scratched up and devoured by the Great 
Armadillo. 
Genus C ABASSOU : Xenurus. — Of this there is a single species, the Tatouay, or Twelve- 
banded Armadillo : the Cahassou Tatouay of Gervais ; the Dasypus unicinctus of Linnaeus. Its 
general color is brown, its ears long, its anterior claws strong, the scales thinner than in the other 
species. It is nineteen inches long, and as the tail is naked and looks as if rudely deprived of 
its scaly covering, it is called by the natives the Wounded Tatouay. It is found principally in 
Guiana and Brazil. 
THE TATOU-PEBA. 
Genus CAOHICAMA: Cac/wcama.— This includes the Nine-banded Armadillo, or Peba, 
usually called Tatou-Peba in Brazil, and which is found from Texas to Brazil. It is sixteen 
inches long, the tail fourteen ; the circumference of the latter at the base is six inches. The head 
is small, long, and straight ; the nose extremely elongated, taper, and terminated by a sort of 
small muzzle, something resembling the snout of a hog ; the mouth is large ; the eyes small, and 
placed on the sides of the head ; the ears long, and placed close together ; the tail long and at- 
tenuated ; the legs short, and the feet small. The buckler of the shoulders extends in front over 
the whole neck, and toward the rear as far as the back, descending on each side to the elbows. 
It is composed of small pieces adhering to one another, and disposed in numerous parallel con- 
centric rings, having the concavity toward the front, the first ring embracing the neck of the ani- 
mal. The buckler of the croup extends from the back to the origin of the tail, and descends on 
each side to the knees. It is composed, as in the former case, of small pieces arranged in a great 
number of parallel concentric rings, passing transversely over the hips, but having their concavity 
turned in the opposite direction from that of the rings on the shoulder, or in such a manner that 
the last embraces the root of the tail. When viewed externally, the little pieces composing these 
bucklers have the appearance of irregular tubercles, but when examined on the under side of the 
buckler they are found to be hexagons almost as regular as those of the cells of bees, and fitted 
as precisely to one another. Between the bucklers of the shoulders and croup are interposed a 
variable number of transverse movable bands, marked with zig-zag lines forming very acute angles. 
