72 



The N'aluralisf in La Plata. 



tlieii' fables of tlie "Uncle Remus" type, repre- 

 sentiiig it as a versatile creature, exceediugly fertile 

 in expedients, and duping its svv'orn friend the fox 

 in various ways, just as " Brer Rabbit " serves tlie 

 fox in the North American fables. 



The hairy armadillo will, doubtless, long survive 

 all the other armadillos, and on this account alone 

 it will have an ever-increasing interest for the 

 naturalist. I have elsewhere described how it 



Armadillo killiDc;- Snake. 



captures mice ; when preying on snakes it proceeds 

 ni another manner. A friend of mine, a careful 

 observer, who was engaged in cattle-breeding 

 amongst the stony sierras near Cape Corrientes, de- 

 scribed to me an encounter he witnessed between 

 an armadillo and a poisonous snake. While seated 

 on the hillside one day he observed a snake, about 

 twenty inches in length, lying coiled up on a stone 

 five or six yards beneath him. By-and-by, a hairy 



