This seems to be the largest of the species. He has a larger and
broader head, and a snout not so sharp as the others; his legs and feet
are thicker, and his tail has not any crust; a particularity which is
alone sufficient to distinguish this species from all others. He has
five toes on each foot, and twelve moveable bands. The buckler on
the shoulders is formed of five or six rows, each composed of large
quadrangular pieces. The moveable bands are also formed of large
pieces, almost square; those which compose the buckler on the rump are
like those on the shoulder. The helmet of the head consists of large
irregular pieces. Between the joints of the moveable bands and in the
other parts of the armour, there appear some hairs like the bristles
of a hog; there are also upon his breast, belly, legs, and tail, round
scales, almost imperceptible, hard and polished like the crust, and
between which are small tufts of hair. The pieces which compose the
helmet, the two bucklers, and the cuirass, being proportionally larger
and less in number in this than in other armadillos, evidently prove he
is the largest of the kind. The head of that from which we took this
description was seven inches long, and the body twenty-one.