No. 561] THE N1NE-B A XT) ED Ah' MA 1)1 LLO 



517 



reach the tail of an armadillo concealed in a rock pile the 

 animal braces the armored back against the roof or sides 

 of the hole and holds so hard that the tail will come off 

 before the body can be moved. Thus in divers ways the 

 armor serves a protective function other than the pri- 

 mary one connoted by the name. Still further, there can 

 be no doubt but that the carapace serves as a reducer of 

 surface evaporation, an important factor in making life 

 possible in the semiarid regions, for there are many 

 periods of extreme drought during which it must be of 

 vital importance to conserve moisture. It is possible, 

 indeed probable, that the armor is phylogeneticall>' older 

 than the particular conditions comprising the present 

 environment of the armadillo, hence we can scarcely 

 claim that the armor is in any strict sense an adapta- 

 tion. It seems far more likely that in the exercise of its 

 prerogative of choice of habitat the species has selected 

 an environment affording an unpreempted food area 

 and an adequate shelter from enemies. 



The armadillo is preeminently insectivorous, although 

 in captivity it appears practically omnivorous. Stomach 

 examinations of freshly caught wild animals show the re- 

 mains of insects, chiefly ants, together with much earth 

 and more or less vegetation. In captivity they eat meat 

 of all kinds, even exhibiting canibalistic propensities 

 under certain conditions, for when shipped in crates or 

 boxes the stronger ones kill and disembowel the weaker, 

 and mothers devour their own new-born offspring. 

 Hunters and basket dealers justify the extensive slaugh- 

 ter of the armadillo by giving to the animal a bad name. 

 It is said, on how good authority I am unable to state, 

 that the " 'dillo" is a robber of newly made graves and a 

 destroyer of vast numbers of the eggs of such ground 

 birds as wild turkeys and quails. They are also said 

 seriously to damage the grazing value of certain terri- 

 tories by rooting up quantities of grass. I am of the 

 opinion that much of the destruction of bird eggs and 

 of grass might more justly be blamed upon the Texas 



