A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



10? 



ihg down its head uneasily, as quick as lightning it rolled 

 itself up into a ball and glided down the slope. Just at my 

 feet it stopped, and I only had to stoop down in order to 

 pick it up. Gringalet, who then appeared at the top of the 

 slope, was evidently the cause of its sudden flight. 



I rejoined my companions, carrying my prisoner, who tried 

 neither to defend itself nor to escape. Lucien examined 

 with curiosity the scales which crossed the back of the ar- 

 madillo, and its pink transparent skin. I told him that this 

 inoffensive animal, which feeds on insects and roots, belong- 

 ed to the order Edentata — mammals in which the system of 

 teeth is incomplete. 



" But," said he, " I have seen pictures in which armadillos 

 are represented with armor formed of small squares." 



" That is another species, which also lives in Mexico," re- 

 plied Sumichrast. 



When we talked about killing the animal, Lucien opposed 

 the idea with great vehemence. He wanted either to carry 

 it away alive or to let it go — both being plans which could 

 not be allowed. Gringalet, however, cut short the discus- 

 sion by strangling it, l'Encuerado's carelessness having left 

 it in his way. The boy, both angry and distressed, was as- 

 tonished at the cruelty of his dog, and was going to beat 

 him. 



" He has only yielded to instinct," said Sumichrast. 



" A fine instinct, truly," replied Lucien, in tears, " to kill 

 a poor beast that never did him any harm !" 



" He has saved us the trouble of -killing it. Men, and all 

 carnivorous animals, can not live except on the condition of 

 sacrificing other creatures. Didn't you shoot a squirrel 

 yesterday? And you did not refuse your share of those 

 beautiful birds, the plumage of which so delighted you." 



" Yes, but I did not strangle the squirrel with my teeth. 

 It's a very different thing." 



