428 TOOTHLESS ANIMALS 



the Apara, or Bolita (Tatusia tricinta), can thus defy even a 

 jaguar who desires a toothsome morsel. 



The Armadillo has an extensile tongue, with which it 

 gathers up ants and other insects. It exhibits great adroit- 

 ness in capturing a snake, sawing the reptile in pieces with 

 the jagged edges of its armour. But most of the family are 

 omnivorous, welcoming alike animal or vegetable food, 

 fresh or putrid. 



For its size the Armadillo, or Poyu, as it is also called, 

 has powerful claws, and its burrowing powers are corre- 

 spondingly great. The animal is a natural scavenger and 

 renders good service in the removal of decaying animal 

 matter. In South America a dead horse on the plains is no 

 uncommon circumstance. The Armadillo will enter into 

 the carcass and make its home on the spot as long as there 

 is anything left to eat. The natives acknowledge the 

 animal's good services in such a case, but they wish it 

 would manifest a little more discrimination, and then it 

 would not be necessary for them to line the graves of their 

 dead with boards to keep the scavenging burrower from 

 feeding on the corpses of the departed. 



Armadillos of whatever kind live in burrows and are 

 mainly nocturnal. There are rarely more than four young 

 ones at a birth, and they are born fully armoured, but with 

 the plates in a soft and flexible condition. 



