The Great Armadillo is a persevering and most rapid burrower, and the fore limb and hand are singularly modified for the purpose of enabling rapid digging and removal of the soil. The olecranon process of the ulna is enormous, and the muscle of the deep flexor or tendon of the claws is ossified and turned into a hand bone. The metacarpal bones of the thumb and first finger are small, and so are the slender digits, but that of the middle finger is irregularly rectangular, and is broader than long, and the digit which it supports is extraordinarily short, stout, strong, and broad. Its corresponding bones of the fourth finger are similarly formed, but are somewhat smaller, and the fifth finger is very small. The nail phalanx of the middle finger is large and strong, being curved _outwards_, and having a large horny hood, or core, at its base, for the lodgment of the claw. There are five claws on the hands and feet, and the Armadillo moves on the flat of its feet, being plantigrade. There is no doubt that, aided by these digging weapons, and being of considerable stoutness, the animal makes long and deep burrows. It feeds on roots, fallen fruit, and insects, and there is a story that it seeks carrion, and it used to be said that the collectors of Cinchona bark in the dense forests, when they lost a companion by death, were obliged to bury the body in a grave surrounded with a double row of stout planks, to prevent its being scratched up and devoured by the Great Armadillo. Planks must be scarce, however, in those localities, and difficult to carry; and probably there are other inhabitants of the woods besides the Armadillos which would discover and drag out a corpse. To assist the scratching and digging, the soles of the feet are partly covered with flat scales. * * * * * The Kabassous have the fore and hind extremities furnished with an equal number of (five) fingers and toes respectively, but the number of teeth is, altogether, from thirty to forty. THE TATOUAY.[74]