half jaw, of which one is often implanted in the premaxilla. The Armadillos show their alliance with the other American Edentates in the points enumerated above. Their teeth specially ally them to the Sloths, while the salivary and digestive organs generally are on the Anteater plan, but present a less extreme development. There are, however, caeca, paired as in birds, in the genera Dasypus and Chlamydophorus. The others have none. But there is a dilatation at the commencement of the large intestine, which is not very different from the slightly-developed caeca of Dasypus.
There are certain peculiarities in the skeleton, which distinguish this family.
Fig. 99.—Skull of Armadillo. Dasypus sexcinctus. × ⅔. ex.oc, Exoccipital; fr, frontal; max, maxilla; nas, nasal; par, parietal; peri, periotic; p.max, premaxilla; s.oc, supraoccipital; sq, squamosal; ty, tympanic. (From Parker and Haswell's Zoology.)
The skull in the Armadillos presents a number of likenesses to the other American Edentates.[1] The premaxillaries are small, but are larger in Dasypus than in Tatusia. On the other hand the lachrymals are larger in the latter. The zygomatic arch is complete, but there is no downward process as in the Sloths. In Tatusia (but not in Dasypus) the "short thick pterygoids add somewhat to the hard palate." This is clearly a beginning or a remnant of the quite crocodilian character of the palate of Myrmecophaga. In the cervical vertebrae we see the Whale-like character of fusion between individual vertebrae; and also, as in the Whales, the degree to which this fusion is carried out
- ↑ For the anatomy of several forms, see Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 222, who quotes other memoirs.
