The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-03-13

A recent bit Of news from South America
has attracted unwonted attention on the part Of
biologists to the highlands OF Southern Brazil.
There is reason to believe that a gigantic ami
nal OF subtcfrancan habits. IA yet Unknown to
naturalists exists in the region where the great
rivers Paraguay and Parand take their rise.
| IL is variousy described. but all accounts
! represent II ns n very largo trench digging
! creature not less than three feet in thickness.
| Tho inhabitants call II the Minhocao. and be-
| love II to be an enormous scalc-coverpd earth
| worm some nfiy yards long. which ploughs up
the ground after the fashion Of a giant mole.
ovcrturning full-grown trees in It's path.
Stories OF such an animal would be worthy of
| little attention II they came from single un-
known traveller. As it is. however. they arc
communicated to the scientific world by an nc
complshcd German naturalist. Fritz Mailer.
long resident in Brazil who has carefully
collected and weighed the evidence as
to the asserted existence OF this under
ground monster Native testimony GER
tainly makes out n pretty strong probability
that some such creature exists. Herr M1ller
has never seen the animal himself: but from
his summary of the native accounts furnished
to the ZoJioDicat Garden. "A German journal of
natural history il appears to have been seen on
at least three occasions. 1t Is found only near
rivers To one observer who saw it
lying on the bank Of stream. IL seemed
nm animal OF gigantic size, nearly one metre
in thickness not very long and with n snout
like pig. but whether II had legs or not
he could not tell" Before he could procure MS
slstance to attack il. tho strange creature had
bu. ed itself in n trench Of its own max Ing. In
another instance Mihhocao seems to have un-
dermined and drawn OF n large pool. negro
woman who went thithcr for water, found that
the water was all gone. but saw an animal in
the vicinity. as big as u house." NOV
ing rapidly away. This was In the BRAZILIAN
province of Parand. where some time after
ward young man had still more remarkable
adventure. He saw a pine tree fall suddenly
and without any apparent cause. fastening
to the spot " he found the surrounding earth in
movement. and an enormous worm-l like black
animal in the middle of it. about Twenty-Five
metres long and with two horns on It's head"
Apart from these views of the animal itself.
there Is proof OF the existence OF trenchlike OK
cavations In the South brazilian highlands the
formation OF which must be attributed to living
creatures. Nature. the English scientific Jour
nal from which we have quoted the foregoing
descriptions. nccepts the evidence MS con-
elusive on this point What then. are
the true characteristics Of the animal? The
Wlulu Ol lnt lT'n'ncS lPtNpS lltlle NOubt tnut
it is large; n small beast would hardly make
gallery underground twelve feet wide and over
hall u mile long. such rs was discovered in tho
wiley OF the river Cachorros. Il is also toera-
bly, certain that the Minhocao likes 10 live in
damp places. Beyond this. the evidence relat-
ing 10 the animal affords great scope TO the i'm
aginton
The idea thrown out by Nature that this So
called subterranean serpent may be n last de-
scendant OF the Glyptodonts has led to search
OF the leading authorities ms to that remark
able genus Of mammals. The Glyptodon.
says Prot Huxley. is essentially n large
armadillo. though II departs in some respects
not only from all urmadios. but from all other
mammalia, and even stands alone among the
vertebrate. Seven species OF Glyptodonts are
mentioned by Andrew Murray In his large
Quarto work on the geographical distribution
Of animals; Of these. four occur in Bue-
nos Ayres. and three In the BRAZILIAN
bone caves. Until now. the entire genus has
been regarded as extinct and the remains.
from which these species are described occur
as fossils in the post-tertiary formations Of
South America A picture OF Glyptodon
"a. claripeS) may be found at page Gl2 Of Nichol-
sons Manual OF Zoology. They differed from
living armadillos." says the author OF that
work. - In having no bands In their
armor. so that they must have beon
unable to roll themselves up. It Is
rare ut the present day to meet with any
armadillo over twror three feet in length but
the length of the Glyptodon clavipes from the
tip Of the snout 10 the end Of the tail was more
than nine feet"
Taking all these facts together do they not
Indicate tho present existence Of wonderful
land varmint' in the shape Of Il gigantic
armndillo2