r of bands. Eight species mentioned by D'Azara are admitted as
distinct, but the whole number is very doubtful.

(The species represented in the Cut,[9] or, the Nine-banded, is the most
common. In the Zoological Gardens, in the Regent's Park, and in Surrey,
are several specimens. They are usually kept in cages, but on fine sunny
days are let out upon the turf. Their general pace may here be seen to
advantage: it is a sort of quick shuffling walk, and they get over the
ground easily, notwithstanding the weight of their shelly covering.)

[9] From a specimen figured in Dr. Shaw's Zoological Lectures,
with plates, by Mrs. Griffith, vol. i.

In conclusion, it is interesting to remark that the whole series of
these very singular animals offers a notable example of one genus being
confined to a particular country. We have observed that they all belong
to South America; nor do we find that in any parts of the old world, or,
indeed, in the great northern division of the new, any races of
quadrupeds at all to resemble them, or in any manner to be compared with
them. They may be said to stand perfectly insulated; they exhibit all
the characters of a creation entirely distinct, and except as to the
general characters of mammiferous quadrupeds, perfectly of their own
kind. There is no break in the whole circle of them, no deviation or
leaning towards any other organized form; so that the boldest conjecture
will hardly venture to guess at any other than a separate creation for
these animals, and a distinct allocation in South America. This
peculiarity is rendered the more striking by the facility with which it
seems to endure removal, even to our latitudes; thereby proving that its
present confined identity with South America is not altogether the
result of its physical necessities.[10]

[10] Popular Zoology. Comprising Memoirs and Anecdotes of the
Animals of the Zoological Society's Menagerie. With many
Engravings. 1832.

* * * * *

CLIMATE OF CANADA.

_From Sketches, by a Backwoodsman._

It never has been accountable to me, how the heat of the sun is
regulated. There is no part of Upper Canada that is not to the south of
Penzance, yet there is no part of England where the cold is so intense
as in Canada; nay, there is no cold in England equal to the cold of
Virginia, which, were it on the European side of the hemisphere, would
be looked upon as an almost tropical clim