Two new tellurides have been synthesized in Ta with particular attention to the use of finely divided Dy (Gd) and a sequence of reactive sintering reactions of pressed pellets up to similar to 1060 degreesC. Both phases disproportionate to Ln and LnTe at only slightly higher temperatures so that are-melting procedures are relatively unproductive. The two compounds crystallize with a Sc2Te-type structure. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction results for Dy2Te were detailed in the orthorhombic space group Pnma (No. 62), Z = 12, a = 21.922(4) Angstrom, b = 4.0650(6) Angstrom, and c = 11.428(2) Angstrom (Guinier data). There is good evidence for the existence of additional metal-rich binary chalcogenides of the heavy lanthanides. Extended Huckel calculations were performed within the tight binding approximation to aid the understanding of the metal-metal bonding in this system. In terms of metal-metal overlap populations, the isotypic Sc2Te is more 1D in aggregation, while the larger atoms and orbitals and stronger bonding in Dy2Te make it somewhat more 3D, Electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements on polycrystalline Dy2Te indicate it is metallic and ferromagnetic (T-c= 161.3 K) with an effective moment at higher temperatures close to that of ground-state Dy3+. The connections between heavy lanthanide-rich chalcogenide chemistry and that of the early transition metals seem significant.