THE HAIRY ARMADILLO. 



The " open air treatment " so strongly advocated 

 for human invalids has of recent years received a 

 humbler yet interesting application in the improved 

 methods adopted for the exhibition of living animals. 

 Thus, in the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens there 

 are roomy aviaries, where the scarlet ibises glow like 

 fire against a background of living green^: in this 

 collection an excellent system is also adopted, 

 whereby the burrowing animals — armadillos, prairie 

 dogs, wombats — are allowed to tunnel in the earth 

 without being able to escape. The hairy armadillo 

 was most interesting to watch as it scuttled about on 

 its improvised pampas apparently quite at home, 

 though under a northern sky. Indeed, this animal 

 is very interesting under any circumstances, as it is 

 proposed to show in this Essay. 



The hairy armadillo [Dasypus villostts) — called 

 peludo in Argentina — measures about i6 inches in 

 length, and is a most extraordinary little creature, 

 being mailed all over its back with a jointed carapace 

 that forcibly recalls the harness of the armadillo 

 woodlouse or "slater" to be found in every garden 

 under stones or rotting wood. The blunt, conical 

 head of the peludo is helmeted with a scaly morion : 

 the tail is also encased in bony mail. The under 



1 Renshaw ; " Tlie Amsterdam Zoolofjical Gardens." Zoologist, 

 June, 1904, 



