200 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Antillean Distribution. — There is no evidence to show that the 

 Antillean armadillo ever occurred naturally to the northward of 

 Grenada. De Rochefort, writing in 1658, on the natural history of 

 the Antilles, gives the "Tatou" as a native of Tobago, and notes that, 

 while some armadillos are as large as foxes, " ceus qui sont a Tabago 

 sont beaucoup plus petis" (1658, p. 123). Evidently, then, the 

 Tobago armadillo was small, as is the Grenada animal. Again, Du 

 Tertre, writing in 1654, of the natural history of the French Islands, 

 St. Christopher, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, does not mention its 

 occurrence; but in the 1667 edition of this work, written after he had 

 visited Grenada, he includes it, with the remark that he had never 

 seen it until he visited that island, where it was then common. Its 

 flesh was highly esteemed, and the animal was much hunted with 

 dogs. He adds, in substance, that Grenada is the only one of the 

 islands inhabited by the French where this little animal can live, 

 and that many people have endeavored to transport it alive to Marti- 

 nique, but without success. For if they even take it as far as St. 

 Vincent, its strength fails it, and most of them die on the voyage. 

 If even the strongest live until they reach Martinique, they die as 

 soon as they touch the ground. This statement, however, was doubt- 

 less a more or less fanciful explanation of the absence of the "tatou" 

 from the other islands; for Labat, in 1742, disproves it by asserting 

 that he himself saw one in 1704, alive and well, that had been brought 

 from Grenada to Martinique at Fort St. Pierre. He had never tasted 

 its flesh on Martinique; but in Grenada in 1700 he had several times 

 eaten it, and speaks of it as white, fat, and delicate (Labat, 1742, 3, 

 p. 19). 



On Grenada it is now confined to the rough country, covered with 

 primeval forest, on the hills of the region about Grand Etang, and 

 thence to the hills back of Gouyave, on the west coast. Its flesh is 

 much esteemed by the negroes, who capture it by means of a deadfall 

 constructed over the armadillo's runway among the thick under- 

 growth. This consists of a small palisade of stakes for about a yard 

 on each side of the trail, above which a number of heavy stones are 

 suspended on a couple of logs placed lengthwise with the runway, and 

 held by an ingenious series of levers and notched sticks, on the " figure 

 4" principle. This deadfall is sprung by the animal tripping a slender 

 trigger in passing between the palisades of stakes. The traps are 

 usually visited every other day, and one man may catch one or two 

 tatous in this time from his six or eight traps. It is also sometimes 

 hunted with dogs at the present day; and Mr. John Branch, of 



