No. 561] THE NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO 515 



industry in which the armadillo furnishes the raw mate- 

 rial. Many thousands of the adult animals are slaugh- 

 tered annually for their armor, which is shaped into 

 baskets and sold all over the world as curios. Arma- 

 dillo hunting has come to be a recreation and a source of 

 additional income for large numbers of young American 

 and Mexican farmers. When they come to town to sell 

 produce and purchase supplies they bring also many 

 armadillo baskets which they have learned to make in an 

 expert fashion and for which there is a ready market. 

 One dealer with whom I am well acquainted claims to 

 have shipped no less than 40,000 baskets during the last 

 six years. At least two other firms have been almost 

 equally active. In spite of this extensive slaughter the 

 animals seem to be increasing in numbers, for I had no 

 difficulty in obtaining in about two weeks nearly two 

 hundred pregnant females. Those used in my work 

 would have been slaughtered for their armor alone, so I 

 felt no compunction about destroying so many unborn 

 young. Hunters and dealers generally have the idea 

 that the range of the armadillo is extending rapidly 



