502 ANT-EATERS OF THE NEW AND THE OLD WORLD 



invulnerable armour like the hedge-hog, or squats close to the 

 ground, or, if he has time enough, escapes by digging into the 

 earth, a work which he performs with masterly dexterity. " As 

 it often takes a considerable time to dig him out of his hole," 

 says Mr. Waterton, " it would be a long and laborious business 

 to attack each hole indiscriminately, without knowing whether 

 the animal were there or not. To prevent disappointment, the 

 Indians carefully examine the mouth of the hole, and put a short 

 stick down it. Now if, on introducing the stick, a number of 

 mosquitos come out, the Indians know to a certainty that the 

 armadillo is in it; whenever there are no mosquitos in the 

 hole, there is no armadillo. The Indian having satisfied himself 

 that the armadillo is there by the mosquitos which come out, he 

 immediately cuts a long and slender stick, and introduces it 

 into the hole ; he carefully observes the line the stick takes, and 

 then sinks a pit in the sand to catch the end of it ; this done, he 

 puts it further into the hole, and digs another pit, and so on, till 

 at last he comes up with the armadillo, which had been making 

 itself a passage in the sand till it had exhausted all its strength 

 through pure exertion. I have been sometimes three . quarters 

 of a day in digging out one armadillo, and obliged to sink half a 

 dozen pits, seven feet deep, before I got up to it. The Indians 

 and negroes are very fond of the flesh, but I considered it strong 

 and rank. 



"On laying hold of the armadillo, you must be cautious not to 

 come in contact with his feet ; they are armed with sharp claws, 

 and with them he will inflict a severe wound in self-defence : 

 when not molested, he is very harmless and innocent ; he would 

 put you in mind of the hare in Gray's fable : — 



' Whose care was never to offend, 

 And every creature was her friend.' " 



The family of the armadillos has been subdivided into no less 

 than six genera and fifteen species^ which are chiefly distin- 

 guished from each other by the nimiber of their shelly bands, 

 their teeth, and their toes. They might also be conveniently 

 divided into two tribes, the one with a long and conical tail, 

 the other with a short caudal appendage, formed like a club. 

 They differ greatly in size, for while the giant armadillo (Pri- 



