HU\ VERTEBRATA. 



are erect and pointed, and their eyes very small. They have fat, corpulent bodies, and their legs 

 are so disproportionately thick and short that they barely serve to elevate the body above the 

 surface of the ground. Their toes, also, of which there are either four or five on the anterior, 

 and invariably five on the posterior extremities, are remarkably short; but they are furnished with 

 extremely long, powerful (daws, slightly curved, and in every respect well adapted for digging or 

 burrowing. So rapid, indeed, are the Armadillos at this operation, that they easily bury them- 

 selves to a depth beyond the reach of their pursuers. They can only be forced from their sub- 

 terranean retreat bv directing smoke or water into their burrows. Their strength and the tena- 

 city of their hold are so great, that they have been known to leave their tails in the hands of the 

 hunter rather than permit themselves to be drawn forth. 



Notwithstanding the shortness of their legs and the clumsy formation of their bodies, the 

 Armadillos run with considerable velocity. Most of the species will easily outstrip a man. Their 

 ordinary burrows commonly run for three or four feet at an angle of about forty-five degrees to 

 the plane of the horizon, then make a sudden bend, and terminate at a distance of eight or ten 

 feet from the mouth. Here for the most part they conceal themselves during the daytime, for 

 the greater number of the species are nocturnal, and never move abroad while the sun is above 

 the horizon. This rule, however, admits of some exceptions — a few species being found abroad 

 at all times; and it has been remarked that these are neither so swift nor so timid as the noc- 

 turnal species. 



The teeth of the Armadillos are all of a simple cylindrical form, and stand apart from one an- 

 other like those of the generality of cetaeea and reptiles. They vary in number from seven or 

 eight to seventeen or eighteen on each side of each jaw r , and are so arranged that when the month 

 is closed the upper teeth fit into the interstices of the under, and these into the interstices of the 

 upper teeth, alternately. These animals seldom attempt to bite, nor has nature given them any 

 other means of defense than their covering and the ease and rapidity with which they avoid 

 danger by burrowing. Their food consists principally of fallen fruits, roots and worms; but they 

 do not reject carrion, and have been known to penetrate into human graves when not properly 

 protected by stones or brick-work. Azara informs us that ants seldom abound in the districts 

 inhabited by the Armadillos, for these animals break into the ant-hills and devour the in- 

 sects as greedily as the true ant-eaters. The Armadillos also eat the roots of the mandioc, pota- 

 toes, maize, and other similar substances of a vegetable nature. They are very destructive to the 

 eggs and young of such birds as build their nests on the ground, and greedily devour frogs, small 

 lizards, and even vipers. The chief animal food of the Armadillos, however, is derived from the 

 immense herds of wild cattle which cover the plains and savannahs of every part of South Amer- 

 ica. These are rarely slaughtered but for the sake of the hide and tallow, and as the c 

 are left to rot on the ground, the smell soon attracts vast crowds of carnivorous animals 

 of various species, and among others great numbers of Armadillos, which greedily devour tin 

 half-putrid flesh, and soon become extremely fat and corpulent. In this condition, notwithstand- 

 ing the filthy nature of their food, their flesh is esteemed a great delicacy both by the native Indi- 

 ans and by the Portuguese and Spaniards of America. The animal is roasted in its shell, and 

 is considered one of the greatest dainties which the country produces. 



The Armadillos see but indifferently, particularly in bright sunshiny weather; but their - 

 of hearing is extremely acute, and amply compensates for any imperfection of sight. Winn 

 alarmed by any unusual or strange sound they prick up their cars, stop for a moment to satisfy 

 themselves of its distance and direction, then commence a precipitate retreat to their burrow, or, 

 if that be- too remote, begin to construct a new one. Smell is, however, by far the most acute of 

 their senses. Azara tells a singular story, which strikingly illustrates the intensity of this sense 

 in the Armadillos, as well as the unerring certainty with which, by a kind of intuitive knowli 

 of the principles of engineering, they are enabled to direct their subterraneous course to any p.ir v 

 ticular point. "My friend Nose-da," says he, "having arranged a trap for the purpose of taking 

 Chibigouzous, and having placed in it, by way of bait, a cock with a small quantity of maize to 

 support him, it so happened thai a fiew -rains of the maize fell through between- the boards whicl^ 

 formed the bottom of the trap. An Armadillo arrived during the night, and wishing to g> 



