the Armadillo or Tatou, in zoology; a genus of quadrupeds, belonging to the order of bruta. The dasypus has neither foreteeth nor dog-teeth; it is covered with a hard bony shell, intersected with distinct moveable zones or belts: this shell covers the head, the neck, the back, the flanks, and extends even to the extremity of the tail; the only parts to which it does not extend, are the throat, the breast, and the belly, which are covered with a whitish skin of a coarse grain, resembling that of a hen after the feathers are pulled off. The shell does not consist of one entire piece, like that of the tortoise; but is divided into separate belts, connected to each other by membranes, which enable the animal to move it, and even to roll itself up like a hedge-hog. The number of these belts does not depend on the age of the animal, as some have imagined; but is uniformly the same at all times, and serves to distinguish the different species. All the species of this animal were originally natives of America: they were entirely unknown to the ancients; and modern travellers mention them as peculiar to Mexico, Brazil, and the southern parts of America; though some indeed have confounded them with two species of manis or shell-lizard, which are found in the East Indies: others report that they are natives of Africa, because some of them have been transported from Brazil to the coast of Guinea, where a few have since been propagated; but they were never heard of in Europe, Asia, or Africa, till after the discovery of America.—They are all endowed with the faculty of extending and contracting their bodies, and of rolling themselves up like a ball, but not into so complete a sphere as the hedge-hog. They are very inoffensive animals, excepting when they get into gardens, where they devour the melons, potatoes, and other roots. They walk quickly; but can hardly be said to run or leap, so that they seldom escape the pursuit either of men or dogs. But nature has not left them altogether defenceless. They dig deep holes in the earth; and seldom go very far from their subterraneous habitations: upon any alarm they immediately go into their holes; but, when at too great a distance, they require but a few moments to make one. The hunters can hardly catch them by the tail before they link their body in the ground; where they stick so close, that the tail frequently comes away and leaves the body in the earth; which obliges the hunters, when they want to take them alive and immutilated, to dilate the sides of the hole. When they are taken, and find that there is no resource, they instantly roll themselves up, and will not extend their bodies unless they are held near a fire. When in deep holes, there is no other method of making them come out, but by forcing in smoke or water. They keep in their holes through the day, and seldom go abroad in quest of subsistence but in the night. The hunters usually chase them with small dogs, which easily come up with them. When the dogs are near, the creatures instantly roll themselves up, and in this condition the hunters carry them off. However, if they be near a precipice they often escape both the dogs and hunters: they roll themselves up, and tumble down like a ball, without breaking their shell, or receiving any injury. The dasypus is a very fruitful animal: the female generally brings forth four young ones every month; which is the reason why the species are so numerous, notwithstanding they are so much sought after on account of the sweetness of their flesh. The Indians likewise make baskets, boxes, &c. of the shells which cover their heads.

Linnaeus enumerates six species of dasypus, principally