60 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



The opossums are our only representatives in the 

 United States of the great order of marsupials, or 

 pouched mammals, and are easily recognized by the 

 abdominal pouch in which the young are carried, by 

 the long, nearly naked, and prehensile tail, and the 

 naked ears, sharp nose, and pretty gray fur. 



TEXAS ARMADILLO 



Dasypus novemcinctus texarius 



The Texas armadillo strays into southeastern New 

 Mexico at times, but can scarcely be claimed as a 

 regular inhabitant. One was found near Carlsbad in 

 February, 1924, but whether it was killed or was 

 allowed to go free, I did not learn. They are wholly 

 useful and entirely harmless animals and should be 

 protected and encouraged rather than destroyed. The 

 use of their shells as baskets should be condemned and 

 discouraged in every locality. 



The armadillo is known by the hard shell covering 

 its body, which is rendered flexible by nine movable 

 bands across the back. 



TEXAS JACK RABBIT 



Lepus californicus iexianus (Fig. 18) 



The large, gray Texas jack rabbits are abundant over 

 the valley country, but they rarely get up on the rocky 

 ridges around the cave, nor nearer than the edge of the 

 flats a couple of miles to the south. Still their bones 

 form a part of the refuse under the owls' nests in the 



