TRAMPS THROUGH THE GULF STATES I 



495 



will be said in 

 the second part 

 of this article 

 next month. 



One of its 

 most remark- 

 able mammals 

 is the Nine- 

 banded Arma- 

 dillo (Figs. 8 

 and 9), and the 

 writer had a 

 pair of these 

 alive for some 

 time which had 

 been captured 

 in the southern 

 part of the 

 State. Includ- 

 ing the tail, 

 one of them 

 had a length 

 of some thirty 

 inches, and its 

 appearance is well shown in Figure 9. Its armor in- 

 cludes nine movable, transverse bands crossing the middle 

 of the back an arrangement that admits of the animal's 

 partly rolling itself up into a ball for protection against 

 its enemies (Fig. 8). In all existing armadillos the lower 

 parts of the body are not protected by any armor at all, 



RICAN ARMADILLO ALMOST COMPLETELY ROLLED UP 



Figure 8. The armadillo uses this method of protecting himself from attack, by rolling closely into his 

 own bony coatof-mail. He was nearly through the rolling process when the photograph was taken. 



the skin usual- 

 ly being soft 

 and supporting 

 a growth of 

 long hair. 

 There are 

 numerous spe- 

 cies of these 

 animals, with 

 markedly dif- 

 ferent external 

 and internal 

 char ac ters ; 

 they range 

 from Texas to 

 southern Brazil 

 or further. 

 Several of the 

 extinct species 

 were as big as 

 a rh i noceros, 

 and the re- 

 mains of such 

 are still to be 

 found in the bone caves of central South America; in- 

 deed, a goodly volume might be written about these 

 curious mammals and their extinct ancestors. 



Our nine-banded species possesses wonderful strength 

 for its size, and when teased may bite one severely. Its 

 gait is quite deliberate; but when it undertakes to run, 



THE NINEBANDED ARMADILLO 



Figure 9. Without doubt the most curious mammal we have in this country is the nine-banded armadillo, which inhabits certain parts of the 



State of Texas. The photograph was taken from life by the author. 



