of a lobster. The difference in the size of this animal, and also the different disposition and number of its plates, have been considered as constituting so many species, each marked with its own particular name. In all, however, the animal is partially covered with this natural coat of mail; the conformation of which affords one of the most striking curiosities in natural history. This shell, which in every respect resembles a bony substance, covers the head, the neck, the back, the sides, the rump, and the tail to the very point. The only parts to which it does not extend are the throat, the breast, and the belly, which are covered with a white, soft skin, somewhat resembling that of a fowl stripped of its feathers. If these naked parts be observed with attention, they will be found covered with the rudiments of shells, of the same substance with those which cover the back. The skin, even in the parts that are softest, seems to have a tendency to ossify; but a complete ossification takes place only on those parts which have the least friction, and are the most exposed to the weather. The shell, which covers the upper part of the body, differs from that of the tortoise, in being composed of more pieces than one, which lie in bands over the body, and, as in the tail of the lobster, slide over each other, and are connected by a yellow membrane in the same manner. By this means the animal has a motion in its back, and the armour gives way to its neces sary inflections. These bands are of various numbers and sizes, and from them these animals have been distinguished into various kinds. In general however, there are two large pieces that cover, one the shoulders and the other the rump. In the back, between these, the bands are placed in different numbers, that lap over each other, and give play to Nine-banded Armadillo.) the whole. Besides their opening cross-ways, they also open down along the back, so that the animal can move in every direction. In some there are but three of these bands between the large pieces; in others there are six; in a third kind there are eight: in a fourth kind, nine; in a fifth kind, twelve; and lastly, in the sixth kind there is but one large piece, which covers the shoulders, and the rest of the body is covered with bands all down to the tail. These shells are differently coloured in different kinds, but most usually they are of a dirty grey. This colour in all arises from another peculiar circumstance in their conformation, for the shell itself is covered with a softish skin, which is smooth and transparent. But, although these shells might easily defend this animal from a feeble enemy, yet they could make but a slight resistance against a more powerful antagonist; nature, therefore, has given the armadillo the same method of protecting itself with the hedge-hog or the pangolin. The instant it perceives itself attacked, it withdraws the head under its shells, and lets nothing be seen but the tip of the nose; if the danger increases, the animal's precautions increase in proportion; it then tucks up its feet under its belly, unites its two extremities together, while the tail seems as a band to strengthen the connexion; and it thus becomes like a ball, a little flattish on each side. In this position it continues obstinately fixed, while the danger is near, and often long after it is over. In this situation it is tossed about at the pleasure of every other quadruped, and very little resembling a creature endowed with life and motion. Whenever the Indians take it, which is in this form, by laying it close to the fire, they soon oblige the poor animal to unfold itself, and to face a milder death to escape a more severe. As to the rest, these animals, though they all resemble each other in the general character of being clothed with a shell, yet differ a good deal in their size, and in the parts into which their shell is divided. The first of this kind, which has but three bands between the two large pieces that cover the back, is called the tatu apara. I will not enter into an exact description of its figure, which, how well written soever, no imagination could exactly conceive; and the reader would be more fatigued to understand than I to write it. The tail is shorter in this than any other kind, being not more than two inches long, while the shell, taking all the pieces together, is a foot long and eight inches broad. The second is the tatou of Ray, or the encoubert of Buffon: this is distinguished from the rest by six bands across the back; it is about the size of a pig of a month old, with a small, long head and a very long tail. The third is the tatuette, furnished with eight bands, and not by a great deal so big as the former. Its tail is longer also, and its legs shorter in proportion. Its body, from the nose to the insertion of the tail, is about ten inches long, and the tail seven. The fourth is the pig-headed armadillo, with nine bands. This is much larger than the former, being about two feet long from the nose to the tail. The fifth is the kabassou, or cataphractus, with twelve bands, and still bigger than the former, or any other of its kind. This is often found above three feet long, but is never eaten as the rest are. The sixth is the weasel-headed armadillo, with eighteen bands, with a large piece before, and nothing but bands backward. This is above a foot long, and the tail five inches. Of all these, the kabassou and the encoubert are the largest; the rest are of a much smaller kind.* In the larger kinds, the shell is much more THE ARMADILLO.-M. Fr. Cuvier manca the following observations on an armadillo closely allied to this species, which lived for many years in the Menagerie at the Garden of Plants in Paris. "If we were to judge of the intellectual faculties of the species by the individual now under consideration, we should conclude that the Encoubert possesses them in a very limited degree. When he is set at liberty, he goes running to the right and to the left, digging in one corner, and then suddenly stopping to run and scratch in another. A sudden noise startles him; he stops to listen, but he does not seem to perceive the presence of a new object, nor to distinguish a person from a stone; when he runs, he goes indiscriminately against every thing in his way, and passes over it or by the side of it, with equal indifference whether the obstacle be a piece of wood or an animal. His indifference in this respect is such, that I should be inclined to attribute it only to his inexperience, to the continual slavery in which he had lived, and to the habit he had contracted of being touched and carried about in the hand from one place to another. But he never learnt to distinguish the hand that fed him, and remained as unfamiliar with the person who had the care of him, as with any other individual. In this respect I cannot compare him better than to the animals of the lower classes; yet there are even among the insects some which seem to have received the faculty of judging and of discri ating in a higher degree than this animal."-Hist. des Mammif. We have observed the same habits, the same unceremonious manner of running against or over anything that stood in their way, whether a rabbit, or another of their own species, in specimens living at the Surrey Zoological Gardens. A smaller variety of Dusypus mustelinus, or a species nearly allied to it, has attracted considerable notice at the gardens in the Regent's Park during the preceding year. The mode of locomotion and the habits of these individuals were similar to those above mentioned. In their place of confinement it was extremely amusing to see the mock air of business with which they would run from corner to corner, suddenly stopping as if to listen, then scratching and rearing themselves up until generally they lost their balance and tumbled backwards in the straw; these actions they would repeat over and over again in the most mechanical manner, until the patience of the observer at length became exhausted. These animals have brought forth more than once since they came into the possession of the Zoological Society: and it seems by no means improbable that they might be as readily naturalized as the guinea-pig. There is perhaps no quadruped more easy to transport: a little food, either animal or vegetable, and a little milk suffice for their nourishment, and they readily bear close confinement. And as the species require to be rigorously solid than in the others, and the flesh is much harder and unfit for the table. These are generally seen to reside in dry, upland grounds, while the small species are always found in moist places, and in the neighbourhood of brooks and rivers. They all roll themselves into a ball; but those whose bands are fewest in number are least capable of covering themselves up completely. The Tatu Apara, for instance, when rolled up, presents two great interstices between its bands, by which it is very easily vulnerable, even by the feeblest of quadrupeds. CHAP. XVIII. ANIMALS OF THE BAT KIND.* HAVING in the last chapter described a race of animals that unite the boundaries between quadrupeds and insects. 1 come in this to a very different class, that serve to fill up the chasm between quadrupeds and birds. Some naturalists, indeed, have found animals of the bat kind so much partaking of the nature of both, that they have been at a loss in which rank to place them, and have doubted, in giving the history of the Bat, (The Bat.) whether it was a beast or a bird they were describing. The bat in scarce any particular resembles the bird, except in its power of sustaining itself in the air. It brings forth its young alive: it suckles them; its mouth is furnished with teeth; its lungs are formed like those of quadrupeds; its intestines, and its skeleton, have a complete resemblance, and even are, in some measure, seen to resemble those of mankind. (g) The bat most common in England, is about the size of a mouse; or nearly two inches and a half long. The membranes that are usually called wings, are, properly speaking, an extension of the skin all around the body, except the head, which, when the animal flies, is kept stretched on every side, by the four interior toes of the fore feet, which are enormously long, and serve like masts that keep the canvass of a sail spread, and regulate its motions.(g) The first toe is quite loose, and serves as a heel when the bat walks, or as a hook, when it would adhere to any thing. The hind feet are disengaged from the surrounding skin, and divided into five toes, somewhat resembling those of a mouse. The skin by which it flies is of a dusky colour. The body is covered with a short fur, of a mouse colour, tinged with red. The eyes are very small; the ears like those of a mouse. This species of the bat is very common in England. It makes its first appear compared in order to determine the value of the characters that have been adopted to distinguish them, it is desirable that the facility with which they may be brought over should be generally known to those who make voyages from South America to Europe.-ZooLOGICAL MAGAZINE. BATS.-The animals of this numerous family have sharp pointed, erect teeth, placed (g) Penis propendens. near together; the fore feet are webbed with |