| OCR Text |
Show 10 MR. E. W. WHITE ON CHLAMYDOPHORUS TRUNCATUS. [Jan. 6, has scarcely time to dismount from his horse before the creature has buried itself to the depth of its own body. With regard to its movements within the burrow, these, as well as the structure of the tunnel, seem to me to be governed by the general timidity of its character. The tunnel is scooped out of the exact size of the truncated extremity, so that whenever the animal feels inclined to quit its subterranean dwelling, this must be accomplished in one of three ways either (a) by a retrograde motion, using the ram to burst through a consolidated wall of sand, or (ft) by turning its body round and emerging from the entry head first, or (y) by tunnelling in advance and emerging from a different hole. The third, in my opinion, is the course followed by the Chlamydophorus; for, although when put into a box, under suitable conditions, I observed that by first inclining itself on one side, bringing the snout into close proximity to the body and directed towards the tail, with a screw-like motion the animaf was able to wriggle itself round and effect a complete turn, notwithstanding that at first sight the rigid tail would appear to be fatal to such a movement; yet such a procedure is unnatural, and must be productive of inconvenience, and would, of course, be altogether impossible were it not that the dorsal scute, which is only attached longitudinally along the dorsal ridge, is extremely flexible-so much so, indeed, that it can be easily bent slightly upwards on the merest pressure from the fingers ; a further illustration of this great flexibility is furnished by the fact that when laid on its back, the animal quickly recovers itself. The only sound I heard it utter was that of distinctly sniffing like a dog; and this it always does when in search of a spot for excavating. So extremely sensitive is this delicate little burrower to cold that my living example, after passing a night in a box of earth covered with flannels, was found the following morning in a very exhausted condition. Wrapped in warm clothing and placed near a fire it soon revived. O n taking it into my hand under a Mendozan midday sun it shivered violently ; but whether through fear or chill it is impossible to say. Its normal paradise seems to be when the temperature of its residence is such as is produced by sand so hot as almost to scorch the hand ; and yet, if cold be unfriendly, no less so is wet; for although its winter is spent beneath the earth, a fall of rain quickly drives it from its retreat. During summer it leaves its burrow at dusk to search for food ; and being truly nocturnal, moonlight nights are very favourable for discovering it. I placed my solitary specimen on the ground, first on brick and then on wooden flooring; but knowing that it could not excavate, it merely walked round in circles-a further evidence that it cannot see, or only very imperfectly at any rate, by daylight; but far different was its behaviour on being transported to the soil, where after a preliminary sniffle or two, indicating keen scent, it set to work immediately to delve at a very rapid pace. In the specimen I studied, the translucent der mo-skeleton and all the exposed parts were, during life, of a delicate pink tint, the hair |
