466 
VERTEBRATA. 
are erect and pointed, and their eyes very small. They have fat, corpulent bodies, and their legs 
are so disproportionately thick and short that they barely serve to elevate the body above the 
surface of the ground. Their toes, also, of which there are either four or five on the anterior, 
and invariably five on the posterior extremities, are remarkably short; but they are furnished with 
extremely long, powerful claws, slightly curved, and in every respect well adapted for digging or 
burrowing. So rapid, indeed, arc the Armadillos at this operation, that they easily bury them- 
selves to a depth beyond the reach of their pursuers. They can only be forced from their sub- 
terranean retreat by directing smoke or water into their burrows. Their strength and the tena- 
city of their hold are so great, that they have been known to leave their tails in the hands of the 
hunter rather than permit themselves to be drawn fortb. 
Notwithstanding the shortness of their legs and the clumsy formation of their bodies, the 
Armadillos run Avith considerable velocity. Most of the species will easily outstrip a man. Their 
ordinary burrow's commonly run for three or four feet at an angle of about forty-five degrees to 
the plane of the horizon, then make a sudden bend, and terminate at a distance of eight or ten 
feet from the mouth. Here for the most part they conceal themselves during the daytime, for 
the greater number of the species are nocturnal, and never move abroad while the sun is above 
the horizon. This rule, however, admits of some exceptions — a few species being found abroad 
at all limes; and it has been remarked that these are neither so swift nor so timid as the noc- 
turnal species. 
The teeth of the Armadillos are all of a simple cylindrical form, and stand apart from one an- 
other like those of the generality of cetacea and reptiles. They vary in number from seven or 
eight to seventeen or eighteen on each side of each jaw, and are so arranged that when the mouth 
is closed the upper teeth fit into the interstices of the under, and these into the interstices of the 
upper teeth, alternately. These animals seldom attempt to bite, nor has nature given them any 
other means of defense than their covering and the ease and rapidity with which they avoid 
danger by burrowing. Their food consists principally of fallen fruits, roots and worms ; but they 
do not reject carrion, and hav^e been known to penetrate into human graves when not properly 
protected by stones or brick-work. Azara informs us that ants seldom abound in the districts 
inhabited by the Armadillos, for these animals break into the ant-hills and devour the in- 
sects as greedily as the true ant-eaters. The Armadillos also eat the roots of the mandioc, pota- 
toes, maize, and other similar substances of a vegetable nature. They are very destructive to the 
eggs and young of such birds as build their nests on the ground, and greedily devour frogs, small 
lizards, and even vipers. The chief animal food of the Armadillos, however, is derived from the 
immense herds of wild cattle which cover the plains and savannahs of every part of South Amer- 
ica. These are rarely slaughtered but for the sake of the hide and tallow, and as the carcasses 
are left to rot on the ground, the smell soon attracts vast crowds of carnivorous animals 
of various species, and among others great numbers of Armadillos, which greedily devour the 
half-putrid flesh, and soon become extremely fat and corpulent. In this condition, notwithstand- 
ing the filthy nature of their food, their flesh is esteemed a great delicacy both by the native Indi- 
ans and by the Portuguese and Spaniards of America. The animal is roasted in its shell, and 
is considered one of the greatest dainties which the country produces. 
The Armadillos see but indifferently, particularly in bright sunshiny weather ; but their sense 
of hearing is extremely acute, and amply compensates for any imperfection of sight. When 
alarmed by any unusual or strange sound they prick up their ears, stop for a moment to satisfy 
themselves of its distance and direction, then commence a precipitate retreat to their burrow, or, 
if that be too remote, begin to construct a new one. Smell is, however, by far the most acute of 
their senses. Azara tells a singular story, which strikingly illustrates the intensity of this sense 
in the Armadillos, as well as the unerring certainty with which, by a kind of intuitive knowledge 
of the principles of engineering, they are enabled to direct their subterraneous course to any par- 
ticular point. "My friend Noseda," says he, "having arranged a trap for the purpose of taking 
Chibigouzous, and having placed in it, by way of bait, a cock with a small quantity of maize to 
support him, it so happened that a few grains of the maize fell through between the boards which 
formed the bottom of the trap. An Armadillo arrived during the night, and wishing to get at 
