Armadillo

ARMADILLO, a mail-clad mammal (order Edentata, fam ily Dasypodidae) closely allied to the sloths and ant-eaters. Its armour consists of a bony case, partly composed of solid buckler like plates, and partly of movable transverse bands. Armadillos are omnivorous, feeding on roots, insects, worms, reptiles and carrion, and are mostly nocturnal. They are harmless inoffensive creatures, their principal means of escape being the rapidity with which they burrow in the ground, and the tenacity with which they retain their hold in their subter ranean retreats. Notwithstanding the shortness of their limbs they run with rapidity. Most of the species are esteemed good eating by the natives. They are all in habitants of the tropical and tem perate parts of South America, though a few species range farther north, the nine-banded armadillo being found from Argen tina to southern Texas. The largest species is the giant armadillo (Priodon gigas), nearly a yard long, from Surinam and Brazil. For the distinctive characters of the genera see EDENTATA.

A R M A G E D D O N,

Rev. xvi. 16 (A.v.), HAR-IVIAGEDON (R.v.). This is probably the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew har snegiddo (often, but megiddon, Zech. xii. 11), the mountain district of Megiddo, see various readings of the Septuagint (Josh. xvii. 11). The final destruction of the armies of Gog (understood to mean the forces of Antichrist) was to be on "the mountains of Israel" (Ezek. xxxix. 2, 4), here defined as near Megiddo, the scene of past battles (Judges iv. 13 ; II. Ki. xxiii. 29; II. Chron. xxxv. 22). Other suggestions are : har migdo, "his fruitful mountain" (i.e., the mountain land of Palestine) ; 'ir Chem doh, "the desirable city"; (3) Isar mo'ed, "the mountain where the gods meet"—a hint of a myth of the battle of the gods. (See Charles, Revelation, ii. p. 5o.) Armageddon is often used to-day of a great slaughter or final conflict.

The name is revived in the title of Field-Marshal Lord Allenby of Megiddo (cr. 1919).