The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1878-03-26

America has attracted unwonted At
ention on the part Of biologists to the
highlands Of Southern Brazil. There
reason to believe that q gigantic
lnimal Of subterranean habits. q vet
unknown tn naturalis,s, exists in the
'egion where the great rivers Paraguay
md Parma take their rise. Il Is
described, but all accounts
represent it as a very large trench
digging creature not less than three
feet in thickness. The inhabitants
call it the Minhocao, and believe il to
be an enormous scale-cOvered earth
worm some fifty wards long, which
ploughs up the ground after the fash
ION Of giant mole, overturning full.
grown trees in its path.
Stories of such an animal would be
worthy Of little attention il they came
from single unknown traveller. As
ii l., however. they are communicated
to the scientific world by an accom-
plished German naturalists. Fritz
long resident in Brazil, who
was carefully collected and weighed
the evidence as to the asserted exist
ence Of this underground monster.
Native testimony certainly makes out
q pretty strong probability that some
such creature exists. Herr Muller
has never seen the animal himself, but
from his summary of the native &C.
counts furnished to the Geological
Garden, German Journal Of natural
history. it appears to have been seen
on at least three occasions. 1t is found
o ily near rivers. To one observer.
who saw it lying on the bank Of q
stream, it seemed IAN animal Of
gigantic size, nearly one metre in
THO. .ess. Tot very long. and with
$. out like a pig. but whether it had
les or not Re could not tell" Before
he could procure assistance to attack
it, the stra13e creature had buried
itself in trench Of its own making.
In another instance a Minhocao seems
to hive undermined and drawn Of q
larce pool. A negro woman. who
went thither for water, found that the
water WAS all gone. but saw an animal
in the vicinity, "as big as house."
moving rapidly away. This was in
the Brazilian province of Parana.
where some time afterward q young
man had a still more remarkable ad-
venture. He saw a pine tree fall
suddenly and without any apparent
cause. fastening to the spot ''he
found the surrounding earth in move
ment. and an enormous worm-ike-
black animal in the middle Of it,
about TWENTY-FIVE metres long and
with two horns on its head"
Apart from these views Of the an
imal itself. there is proof Of the ex-
istence Of trench-like excavations in
the South Brazilian highlands. the
formation of which must be attributed
! to living creatures. Nature, the Eng
lish scientific Journal from which we
have quoted the foregoing description,
accepts the evidence as conclusive on
this point. What, then. are the true
characteristics Of the animal? The
width Of the trenches leaves little
doubt that it is large; q small beast
would hardly make . gallery under
ground, twelve feet vide and over q
half mile long. such As was discovered
in the valley Of the river Cachorros.
1t is also tolerably certain that the
MinhocaO likes to live in damp places.
Beyond this, the evidence relating to
the animal affords great scope to the
imagination.
The idea thrown out by Nature that
this so-called subterranean serpent may
be last descendent Of the Glypto-
donts has led to q search of the lead
ing authorities as to that remarkable
genus Of mammals. The Glyptodon.
says Prot. Huxley, is essentially q
large armadilio, though it departs in
some respects not only from all arms
dillos, but from all other mammals,
and even stands alone among the
vertebrate. Seven species Of Glypto-
donts 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 - extinct.
| and the remains from which these
species are described, occur - fossils
in the post-tertiary formations Of South
America. A picture Of . Glyptodon
CO. oaripes) may Be found at page
6l2 of Nicholsonns Manual Of Zoology.
They differed from living armadillos," "
says the author of that work, ''in
having no bands in their armor, %
that they mus have been unable to
roll themselves up. II i rare at the
present day to meet with any arma-
dillo over two or three feet in length !;
but the length Of the GlyptodoD
clavipes from the tip Of the snout to
the end Of the tail wss more than nine
feet"
Taking all these facts together. do
they not indicate the present existenes
of q wonderful ''land varmint" IN the
shape Of q gigantic armadillo!
- n
The Person Of Jesus Chl1k.
An epistle written BY Publius
Lentulus to the Roman Senate, in the
time of our Saviour.
CoxsCRIPr FATHERS There hath
appeared in these our days q man OF
great virtue, named Jesus Christ, Who
i vet living among u. and Of the
Gentiles Is accepted - . prophet Of
truth, but bis own disciples call him
the Son Of God. He raiseth the dead,
and cureth all manner Of diseases-e
man of stature somewhat tall and
comely, with . very reverend eocnte-