though they never jumped, nor did I ever hear their voice.” [Illustration: TWO-TOED ANT-EATER.] All these Ant-eaters have great glands (sub-maxillary) for the purpose of secreting the sticky saliva, and the tongue is most movable, and wriggles like an eel in feeding on milk. The Little Ant-eater has a _rete mirabile_ of blood-vessels. Another Cyclothurus lives in Costa Rica, which is golden-yellow in colour, and silky in its hair. It has a broad black stripe on the back. CHAPTER III. THE ARMADILLO FAMILY. The Armour-plates--How the Shields are formed--Their connection with the Body--Description of the Animals--Mode of Walking--Diet--Skeleton--Adaptation of their Limbs for Burrowing--Classification--THE GREAT ARMADILLO--Appearance--Great Burrower--THE TATOUAY--THE POYOU, OR YELLOW-FOOTED ARMADILLO--THE PELUDO, OR HAIRY ARMADILLO--THE PICHIY--THE PEBA, OR BLACK TATOU--THE MULE ARMADILLO--THE BALL ARMADILLO--Dr. Murie’s Account of its Habits--Description--The Muscles by which it Rolls itself up and Unrolls itself--THE PICHICIAGO--Concluding Remarks: Classification of the Order, Fossil Edentates, the Allied Species of _Manis_ in South Africa and Hindostan. [Illustration: BONES OF CLAW OF GREAT ARMADILLO.] These South American animals are more or less covered with a hard bony crust, separated into shields and bands, which are more or less movable, owing to the presence of special skin-muscles. In the most perfectly armoured there are four distinct shields and a set of bands, a certain amount of motion being possible between their edges. Of the shields, one covers the head, another the back of the neck, a third protects the shoulders like a great cape, and the fourth arches over the rump like a half dome, and is, in some, attached by its deep structure to the bones of the hip and haunch. The movable bands cover the back and loins, and are between the third and fourth shields. The tail may further be invested by incomplete bony rings, and scattered scales, and others are distributed over the limbs. This covering is, according to Professor Huxley, strictly comparable to part of the armour of the Crocodile; and the Armadillos are the only Mammals possessing such structure. The shields and bands are formed of many scales, or scutes, which are ossifications of the skin, and they may be of many kinds of shape--four, or many-sided--being united by sutures, and they are incapable of separate motion. The shields and bands, however, vary much in their number, size, and perfectness in the different animals, which, being armoured, the Spaniards called Armadillos; and, indeed, the number of bands in the back and loin division varies in individuals of the same species. These bands cover the flanks, and, with the shields fore and aft, protect the limbs, which are often more or less hidden by a growth of hair. The bands, moreover, by being movable one on the other, enable the rest of the