116 ARMADILLOS AND AARD-VARKS. 



actually becomes more abundant as population increases 

 in any district." As I have witnessed, beneath any 

 decomposing carcase lying in the Argentine pampas the 

 burrow of a peludo is almost sure to be found ; and it is 

 not a little remarkable that the flesh of a creature which 

 has such unpleasant tastes in the matter of diet, should be 

 so eagerly sought after as an article of human consumption. 



Before taking leave of the peludo we must not omit to 

 mention two other peculiar habits which are recorded of it 

 by Mr. Hudson, since these also mark it as a creature far 

 above the generality of its kind in point of intelligence. 

 The first of these peculiarities is the ingenious way the 

 creature catches mice, by approaching them with extreme 

 caution, raising itself on its hind- quarters, and then 

 suddenly proceeding to " sit down " on the unfortunate 

 rodents, which become entrapped under the projecting 

 edges of its armour. The sharp edges of the armour are 

 also brought into requisition when this armadillo attacks 

 a snake preparatory to devouring it; the snake being 

 pressed close to the ground beneath the edges of the bony 

 plates, and literally sawn to death by means of a back- 

 wards-and-forwards motion of the body of its assailant. 



The largest of living armadillos is one which inhabits 

 the moist forests of Brazil and Surinam, and has a length 

 of about thirty-six inches, exclusive of the unusually long 

 tail, which is some twenty inches in length. These dimen- 

 sions were, however, vastly exceeded by some extinct 

 armadillo-like animals, of which the remains are found 

 in the caverns of Brazil. The most gigantic of these 

 creatures, which flourished during the Pleistocene epoch 

 the period par excellence of giant mammals is estimated 

 to have been nearly equal in size to a rhinoceros, and has 

 been named the chlamydothere. The armour appears to 

 have been very like that of the true armadillos, but the 

 bony plates measured as much as five and six inches in 

 length, in place of little more than an inch. The teeth 

 differed, however, from the simple conical ones of the 

 modern armadillos, and more nearly resembled the verti- 

 cally fluted ones characteristic of the extinct glyptodonts. 

 Unfortunately, space does not admit of further reference 



