478 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
black with irregular white spottings. It is a nocturnal animal, lives in the 
hollows of trees, and takes its name from the fact that its tail is hairless as 
well as non-prehensile. 
EDENTATES. 
The Edentata show a great advance in organization and have an intestinal 
placenta, a distinct nervous system, and a larger sized brain. They are desti¬ 
tute of front teeth as well as of other teeth. The wide differences between the 
animals belonging scientifically to this class has special interest because it 
illustrates the many accidental variations of an evolutionary scheme. 
The Edentata, or Toothless Animals, include the armadillos, the sloths 
and the ant-eaters. The Megatherium is the fossil representative of the family 
and exhibits characteristics which fit it for being the common ancestor of 
progeny whose appearance, structure and habits render them as unlike as blonde 
and brunette color¬ 
ing, or the differ- 
e n c e s of tempera¬ 
ment exhibited by 
different memb e r s 
of a human house¬ 
hold. In number 
and structure the 
teeth of the mega¬ 
therium will be found 
identical with those 
of the sloth, but 
they are four-sided 
or prism-like in form. 
The long legs ended 
in feet whose size 
might suit the mas¬ 
todon. This fact is 
understood that the 
family had not yet 
been reduced in size 
peba, or nine-banded armadiixo ( Tatusia novemcinda). and in appetite suf¬ 
ficiently for it to 
live in a tree. The fossil armadillo, Glyptodon, has been named Macro- 
therium, Limognitherium and Ancylotherius. 
The Peba ( Tatusia novemcinda) is nine-banded (sometimes eight-banded) 
and is the only armadillo in the United States. The Eight-banded Peba 
(Tatusia odocinda ) differs only in the number of its bands. 
TheTatons, or Giant Armadillos {Priadonta gigas) , are represented in South 
America by five species : the Cachecames , the Cabassous, the Apars, the Priadonta 
and the Enconbettes. Like the other members of his family, he never takes his 
armor off, nor doffs his helmet. The mail on his -body consists of bands of 
shell which admit of the greatest freedom of motion; he carries a triangular 
headpiece, or a large buckler on his shoulders, and a carapace over his haunches, 
while his tail is supplied with a series of bony outside rings. His feet are 
built upon the principle of a steam-plough so that when the armadillo starts for 
