GIANT SLOTHS AND ARMADILLOS. 
189 
armadillo, the Glyptodond To the eye it resembles more or less 
an armadillo, and has a huge cuirass, or large plate of armour, 
covering the whole of the body, but allowing the head to show in 
front, while the legs come out beneath. Both head and tail were 
also protected with armour. The great shield, or carapace, in 
most of the extinct armadillos, is composed of long plates of 
regular shape, closely united at their edges (sutures) so as to form 
a solid piece. If is evident, therefore, that this creature, having 
no movable bands, as living armadillos have, could not roll itself 
up into a ball. The fore feet have thick, short toes, instead of 
long ones, such as their modern representatives have ; and 
from this we may infer that they were not in the habit of burrow- 
ing or of seeking their food underground. The family of 
Glyptodonts seem to have been chiefly confined to the continent 
of South America, but some species are known to have extended 
their range as far as Mexico, and Texas into North America. A 
good deal of confusion has arisen with regard to the classification 
of these old-fashioned armadillos, on account of the fact that 
isolated specimens of their tails have often been found, and these 
cannot always be referred to the right carapaces. For example, 
it should be pointed out here that the tail represented in Fig. 51 
really belongs to another genus, known as Hoplophorus.^ 
In Glyptodon asper (Plate XIX.), the scutes of the carapace 
had a beautiful rosette-like sculpture, while the sheath of the tail 
was entirely composed of a series of movable rings, ornamented 
with large projecting tubercles. The vertebrae of the backbone 
are almost entirely fused together into a long tube, and also are 
joined to the under surface of the great shield, to which the ribs 
are united. The cheek-teeth are sixteen in number, four above 
and four below on each side. These are channelled with two 
broad and deep grooves, which divide the surface into three 
distinct lobes. Hence the name of the animal. 
^ So named by Sir R. Owen, in reference to the sculptured aspect of the 
grinding surface of the teeth. Greek — glupho^ I carve ; odous^ odonios, tooth. 
* Greek — Hopton^ armour ; phero^ I bear. 
