The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1878-03-27
ARRIVAL TO THE SEA sERPEsr

has attracted unw0nied attention on the
part Of zoologists 10 lhe highlands OF
southern Brazil There Ii reason 10 De-
lievr thai tagiganlic animal III fsubterraneaii
bahits, rs yet unknown to naiuraiists,
exists IN he regioi where the grrat rivers
Paraguay ard purana take their rise. It
u svariouSly described. bur all accounts
represeu. u as very large trrnci digging
creature moi les than three feet IN iIiiek-
ness. The inhabitanis callit the Min
baeso. and l,c.ieve II 10 be All enormnus
scalecnveretl eaftii worm some filiy Yards
long. which plpughs rip The ground after
tile fashionofa giant mole. ovelturLing
full-grUwI trees In iis path.
Stories Of SUCH an animal would bo
worthy Of little attention If they came
from single unknown traveller. As it
y, nnwever, they ale communicated to ths
scientific world by an accomplished Ger-
man naturalist, Fritz Muller, long resi-
dent In Brazil. who has carefully col ecte,.
and weighed the evidence ~ 10 the ass
serted existence of this underground mon
sier. Native testimony certainly ilakes
out pretty strong probability that some
such creature exists. Herr Muller has
never seen the animal himself; bur from
his summary Of the native accounts fili-
nished to the Zooiogicl Garden, Ger,
man johrnal uf natural history, 1t appears
to have been seen ON ut least three oe-
easions. IL Is found only near iiv.rs. To.
one observer, whu saw IL lying on tile
bank Of n stream, IL seemed AN animal or
gigantic size, nearly one metre IN thick
ness not very long, and with snout like
ply, but wiIetlierIt had legs Or not he
could nUt TELL, Before lie could procure
assistance 70 attack II, the strange creature
had buried itself Ia trench of It's own
making. Ia another instance Minhocao
seems 10 have undermined and drawn Off
u large pool. A negro woman, who went
thither for water. found that the water was
all gone, but saw an animal in the vicinity
las big as y house. moving rapidly away.
This was Iii tile Brazilian province OF
Parana, where stime tiire afteYward
young man had a still more renlarkabie
adventure He saw pine Tree fall sud.
denly aud wilioutl any apparent cause.
Hastening.to the spot he found The sur
rounding earth ia movement, aud AN ems
ormous worm-like black animal In the
middle Of 1t, about Twenty-Five metres
long and with two horns 0n ITS head,
Apart from. these views os Toe animal
itself. there Is proofof tue ealstenee ~
trench.like excavations IN the south
Brazilian highlands. the formation OF
which must be attributed To living crea-
lures. Nature. the English scientific
Journal from which We have quoted the
foregoing descriptions, accepts the evil
dence as conclusive on this puint. WHAT.
then, are the true characteristics of the
animal? The width vf the trenches lraves
little doubt that II " larger; small beast
would hardly make gallery under
ground, twelve feet wide aud over halfs
nIiie hug, such ~ was discovered IN The
valley of the river Ca cl,orr,s. II Is alsJ
tolerably certain that tho Alinhocao likes
TO live 10 damp placss. Beyond this, ths.
evidences relating % the uninaI affords
great scope 10 The Imagination.
The Idea thrown out by 1yot,le that this
50 called snbterranean serpent may he n
last descendant of the GlypIodunts has
led 10 = search Of tile leading authorities
rs 10 that remarkable genus OF manImaIe
The Glyptodon, says Prof. Huxl.y. is
essentially large armadillo, though IL
departs Ia some respects not only from
hli other Bamma'ia, aud even stands alone
among the vertebiata. Seven sueci.s Of
Glyptodunts are mentioned by Andrew
Murray. in his large quartz work on tho
geographical distributions of animsis. Of
these, four occur in Bueuas Ayrcs. and
ihfre ~ the Brazilian buno caves. Ectil
I'ow, The ehtre genus has been regarded
As extinct, aud ;he remains, Ilon, which,,
these species are re,lescribed, occur An FOSSILS
10 the poet,icrtiary formations a south
America. a picture Of 4 JiIyptodan
~ cait1l'esl may lie found at pagr6 %
Nieb"lSon's Manual of zoul,gy. slhy
iiilered fruIn living armadillo.., ss,r n.
ln,hOr Of that work. IN having nU hsndS
10 their arinor, 3" that the, nfsss bsvo
lieen unable :" roll themselves ~. A.
rare ~ tile prrseti ,lss IL nrrrt vim any
lrinadillo over twu nr three f.s.i n, l,,,vih.
but the leng'hof tile iiIylaasion eIay, NJ.
r'ui Tie iipoi the snOsIi 10 the s.,tl ,,g III,
all wAs liipre than nlns feet,
Taking ail illesv facts together, a., tf.v
Dut Indicate tile present existence nf .
wonderful land varminti ~ Il,s slI,,.~ az !.
gigantic arinadillo3--N y Sun.
--~~--~-~s.
a msn who alnutnced lIis tirrt sttark
" IllriiniHiirm learned III un,-l,sIf h,n,r
ilist tie f,lh,wing aUuId edleii; f,pl.le
" potassium. quihinc, klsuhsr salts,
mhnlis. raw leniuii-, raw siik, al stfk. 1 n
.ni taisssy. nsrk candy and wI,i.kr,.
kislh l.a,hs. lsi.alu carried in hi.
Fhrt. hnfse chestnut carried II, hi.
s,'ket an eel skin around bi~ .os. M ss,it
y red flannel. rhiorafnrm lintr ent l,et
athp south, n tlrv atrnrpi,en,.
s1uahle temperature, sulphur hailis' Intl.s
lard aud bot water, caml hJr liuinsnt,
aud electricity.