ARMADILLO (Sp. dim. of armada, armed, referring to its bony shell). 1. A. edentate, mammal of the family DasTpodidee, found in South and Central America and notable for its defensive armor. This armor consists of small roundish bony plates, ossified within the skin, and united to form solid shields, one over the shoulders, one over the haunches, and, between these two, tranverse bands of movable plates, which protect, but leave freedom of motion, to the trunk of the body. These plates are overlaid by a thin, horny pellicle, and between them grow hairs varying in length and amount with the species, from almost none in some to a coat in others, hiding the shell; and the unarmored central surface is also hairy. The head is provided with a shield entirely separate from that of the shoulders, and in some species even the tail is protected by bands of plates. The various forms of armadillos are distinguished largely by the number of movable thin bands of plates lying between the large fixed anterior and pos terior shields, up to as many as a dozen in the cabassous (Xenurus). This armor serves the purpose of defense, and some of the tribe (only those of the genus Tolypeutes, however), in crease its value by exercising the power of roll ing themselves up into a ball so that the tender under parts of the body may be completely pro tected. This ability depends upon the number of bands in the central portion of the armor case. Although true edentates, these animals have a few small, useless teeth, without true roots; the tongue is covered with a sticky fluid like that secreted by the tongue of an ant-eater, but it is not protrusile.
The armadillos are timid, nocturnal animals, living on insects, carrion and vegetable matter; their legs and claws are adapted to burrowing, and, when pursued, they usually bury them selves more quickly than the pursuer can follow them. Only one species (Dosous villosus) is sufficiently adaptable to hold its own when a wild region is settled; the others soon disap pear. One of the most interesting of them all
is the pichichago (Chlamydophorus trunca tus), found in Argentina, which lives entirely underground like a mole, and exhibits a pe culiar structure in many ways, the body hav ing an appearance of truncation, as if the hinder part had been cut squarely off, instead of ending in curved lines. It is very small, only five to six inches long, while the giant armadillo (Priodon gigas) measures three feet, exclusive of the tail. Some of the armadillos range north and south as far as Texas and Argentina; among these is the peba, or nine banded armadillo (Tatusia novemcincta). The family is divided into several genera and the species are numerous and are known as peludos, cabassous, apars, etc., elsewhere described. They are eaten by the South Americans and even esteemed delicate, but their flesh is usually so flavored by the insects and decayed matter which they eat that only a few vegetable-eating species are inoffensive to an unaccustomed palate. • Many forms of fossil armadillos are known from both North and South America, a fossil species of Dasypus having been six feet long. Another genus was Eutatus, which had a shield formed of 36 distinct bands, of which the last 12 were soldered together. These lead back to the large group Gravigrada. (See GLYPTODON ; MYLODON. ) Good accounts of the armadillos are given in both the 'Standard' and the 'New (Royal)) Natural Histories. Consult also Hudson, 'Naturalist on the La Plata> (1892) ; Alston's (13iologia Americana Central' ; with colored plates; Azara's 'Historia Natural de los Paxaros del Paraguay' (Madrid 1805); 'Mammals of Uru guay' in the Proceedings of the Zoological So ciety of London for 1894; Newman 'The Amer ican Naturalist) (September 1913).