ORDER IX. EDENTATA.
(Toothless Animals.)
The name by which this Order of Mammatia is distinguished must not be too literally understood. It was applied by Baron Cuvier, with strict reference to the incisor teeth, which are never present in these animals. Of several of the genera, however, (those constituting the Family Myrmecophagade) the term is descriptive in the fullest sense, they being totally deprived of teeth;. and in those which possess these organs they are peculiar in their construction, being formed without a neck, and destitute of enamel.
Another character of these animals is derived from their nails or claws, which are of great size and strength, more or less hooked, generally sheathed, and directed downwards. For the most part the claws constitute a powerful digging apparatus, used either for the purpose of burrowing in the ground, or tearing away the earthen structures of various insects; or else they are so deflected as to form hooks by means of which the animal clings to the branches of a tree while devouring its fruit or leaves.
As animals of much diversity of form and habits are associated together in the present Order, the group was at one time supposed to be more convenient than natural; but recent discoveries in rapid succession of enormous fossil animals
