NOTES ON A COLLECTION OF LIVING MAMMALS. 185 



shadow over the floor of its cage. I have now had nearly a 

 dozen of these animals. They are cheap to buy and easy to 

 keep, requiring no more care than so many Rabbits, and needing 

 no artificial heat in winter if kept indoors and warmly bedded. 

 Jerboas are extremely playful, and are fond of ploughing up the 

 sand or sawdust on the cage-floor with their truncated muzzles, 

 heaping it up into little mounds. They will also scramble up 

 wire netting (presenting an extraordinary appearance owing to 

 the great disproportion between the fore and hind legs), and 

 will recklessly jump to the floor from a considerable height at 

 the risk of serious injury to themselves. They are subject to 

 a chronic wasting disease, the unfortunate animal becoming 

 thinner and thinner month by month, although feeding and 

 running about as usual, and I have lost several from this cause. 

 Jerboas may be fed on crushed oats, millet seed, bread, lettuce, 

 and cabbage. Although desert-haunting animals, they require 

 water. 



Edentata. 



Dasypus'villosus (Hairy Armadillo). — This grotesque animal 

 may be described almost as a mammalian Woodlouse, its jointed 

 carapace recalling that common crustacean. In addition to its 

 curious appearance, the Hairy Armadillo exhibits more character 

 than would have been expected of so lowly a mammal, being 

 markedly intelligent and even self-willed. The pleasure of 

 keeping these edentates depends very largely on the dieting, and 

 it must be admitted that any which are fed on meat smell most 

 abominably ; those kept on bread and milk are much less ob- 

 jectionable. Armadillos (when they have been acclimatized) are 

 thus best kept out of doors, care being taken to bed them warmly 

 in winter. They are great burrowers, and will soon be lost if 

 the floor of the run is not made of concrete, stone, or other 

 impenetrable material, and care must also be taken that they do 

 not scramble up and over the walls of their enclosure. The 

 Hairy Armadillo sleeps all day either lying semi-contracted on 

 its side, or else on its back, often with a silly Pig-like smile on 

 its countenance. Towards evening it wakes up, and begins to 

 explore every inch of its prison with a steady systematic diligence, 

 which contrasts oddly with the alert nimbleness of a Jerboa or 

 Squirrel, the Armadillo sniffing solemnly over every part of the 



