Mr. Darwin writes that it “prefers a very dry soil and the sandy dunes of the coast of Chili, where for many months it can never taste water. In soft soil, the animal burrows so quickly that its hind quarters would almost disappear before one could alight from one’s horse.” It also inhabits the Pampas to the south of Buenos Ayres, and extends from 36° lat. southward to the confines of Patagonia. It inhabits burrows, to which, however, it does not confine itself during the day. Its flesh is said to be remarkably tender and well tasting. It is a hardy species, and can live in the dreary solitudes of Port Desire on the east coast.
The Cachicames, another group of Armadillos, were so called after the Indian name for a black kind, which has a very long tail, and which is the type of it.
The two kinds included in the group have four fingers, and five toes, which are separate, and the backs of the feet are round and covered with scales. The claws are conical, and the animal walks, as it were, on the toes more than on the sole, being thus digitigrade. The teeth number about eight on each side above and below.
THE PEBA, OR BLACK TATOU.[78]
This Armadillo has a very wide geographical range, extending from Texas, through Central America to Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay, and a variety called Dasypus Kappleri inhabits Surinam. It has great ears, which are long and placed very close together, and the muzzle at the end of the long, tapering face is not unlike that of the snout of a Hog in shape. The head is small, long, and straight, but the mouth is large. There are eight teeth on both sides of both jaws. The body is hairy below the shields and bands, which are largely developed. Then the neck and shoulder shield extends far back and comes as low as the elbow, and is composed of numerous scales disposed in many concentric rings, having the concavity in front, the first embracing the neck in its curve. The croup shield extends from the back to the origin of the tail, and reaches as low as the knees, and the concavity of its rings is turned towards the rear, the last embracing the tail. These scales are hexagons. Between the shields the bands are marked with zigzag lines forming very acute angles, and in some degree gliding over one another according to the movements of the animal. Out of fourteen specimens, two had six, one had seven, seven had eight, and there were four with nine bands; the full-grown ones have the greatest number. The head shield descends from the ears to the muzzle, and covers the cheeks as far down as the eyes, and there are small, interspersed, detached scales over the throat, the under jaw, the legs, and feet. The body is sixteen inches long, and the tail is nearly as long—fourteen inches—and is stout at the root. One variety of the species has some of the rings of the tail soldered into a case, which is used as a horn by the Indians. It is a timid, nocturnal animal, tolerably swift-footed and very expert in burrowing. It is never found in the woods, but delights in the open plains and cultivated fields, and is much hunted on account of the delicacy of the flesh, which, when roasted in the shell, is fat, and something better than Sucking-pig in taste. These long-tailed Armadillos bury garbage and flesh in their burrows, and eat it at their leisure.
Another species of this group is the Mule Armadillo (Dasypus hybridus, Desmarest), which has long, straight ears and a short tail. It roams farther north than the other kind, and is common on the Pampas, and is not nocturnal, nor does it burrow very easily. The female has from eight to twelve young at a birth, and the individuals of a litter are often of one sex.
The Armadillos of all kinds, it is said, only have one litter a year, and then the young are numerous, but the mother has never more than four teats, and many have only two.
The last group of the Armadillos, the Tolypeutes, contains some remarkable species, which have the power of rolling themselves up as in a ball-shape, and they walk in a most extraordinary manner on the tip of long and powerful front claws, and also on the flat and tip of the hind ones.
THE BALL ARMADILLO.[79]