1891.] On the Genus Chlamydophorus. 547 
man has scarcely time to dismount from his horse before the 
creature has buried himself to the depth of his own body. The 
tunnel scooped out, of the exact size of the truncated extremity, 
presents three ways of exit. 
“The light, fine sand in which it burrows proclaims unmistak- 
ably its presence by the tracks left. Besides the impressions of 
the four feet, the inclined, stiff tail leaves its deep, central, indented 
line. If the tracks were numerous the animal would no longer 
be rare, but it is a fact that a year or more sometimes elapses 
without any trace of its existence. Occasionally specimens have 
been unhoused by the plow. I could not succeed in discovering 
the nature of the food from the solitary live specimen which I 
obtained, but I fed it on milk, which it lapped like a cat. 
“ This delicate little animal is extremely 
Ñ susceptible to cold. My living example, 
S N TA after passing a night in a box of earth 
T covered with flannels, was found the fol- 
NA lowing morning in a very exhausted con- 
Fé! sew ne aori dition. Wrapped in warm clothing, and 
isagad pg unre see placed near the fire, it soon revived. 
ize. Its normal paradise seems to be when 
the temperature of its residence is such as is produced by 
sand so hot as almost to scorch the hand. During the summer 
it leaves its burrow at dusk to search for food, and, being truly 
nocturnal, moonlight nights are very favorable for discovering it.” 
Mr. White thinks that the use of the fringe surrounding the 
shield is solely to prevent the introduction of sand beneath it 
' during excavation. 
The only description of Chamydophorus retusus is in the short 
monograph by Dr. Hermann Burmeister, Director of the Museum 
of Buenos Ayres.! This museum contained in 1863 the only 
specimen then known. The animal is a native of Bolivia, and its 
habitat the neighborhood of Santa Cruz. No one of the natives, 
says Dr. Burmeister, had ever seen the animal, until they were 
shown the one captured by St. Martin at Pari, Santa Cruz. They 
were aware that there was an animal which lived underground, 
1 Abhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu Halle, 1863. 
IAN 
Ñ 
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