From what may be gleaned by reading the previous pages about the Edentates, it will appear that the order is a very remarkable one, and that it is interesting on account of the different external appearance of the species, their diverse modes of life, and singularly restricted localities. Evidently, there has been much degeneration in some of the anatomical characters of many of the species, and especially in those whose foot bones and neck vertebræ have joined more or less. The singular resemblance which some species present, in various points of their anatomy, to the lower animals, is very interesting, as is also their wonderful relation, in points of structure, with a number of extinct Edentata, most of which were gigantic. The Edentata, called also Bruta by Linnæus, form an order, the characters of which are, that there are teeth of one or two kinds all very similar, and often wanting. The incisors are not developed except in one group, and the rest have either molars which are separate, and numerous and simple, or there are none. The extremities are clawed, and the tongue is more or less elongated. The great groups of this order are the _Tardigrada_, or slow movers, which have a short face, long limbs, and small tail, and the body is covered with crisp hair; and the _Effodientia_, or diggers, which have long faces and worm-like tongues, with short limbs. The Sloths form the only family of the Tardigrada, and the Effodientia are divided into the genera _Manis_, the scaly Ant-eaters; _Dasypus_, the Armadillos; _Chlamydophorus_, the Pichiciagos; _Orycteropus_, the Ant-Bears; and _Myrmecophaga_, the American Ant-eaters. The Sloths form three genera--_Cholœpus_, _Bradypus_, and _Arctopithecus_. Amongst the Ant-eaters, the genus _Manis_ may stand alone. The genus _Dasypus_ may be divided, for the sake of convenience, into the subdivisions Priodontes, Kabassous, Euphractes, Cachicames, and Tolypeutes. The other genera need no subdivision.