Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-31
TODDTHINGSIN MEXTCO
ANIMALS THAT INSPIRE TERROR As
WELL AS WoNosRmENT.

WELL AS WoNDgRmENT.
The CaeomixtIe That Lives In House Roofs
and the Vampire hat With Jaws shaped
Like SAberz-Crabs That Are New to
Science and Highly PriEed Birds
There are plenty of queer animals in
Mexico, and 2. L. Jouy OF the Smithson-
ian institution told the following of them:
picked up some Of them ON a trip through
that country, from which l have Just re-
turned. For example, there j. the ''caco-
miStle,' a very odd ereature,indeed which
lives commonly in the roofs Of houses IL
is as big as a cat, long and slender. and in
color yellOwish brown y species Of civet
cat il is, but not a true cat. You under
stand. It is n beast intermediate in struc-
ture between the cat and the weasel In
respect to its habits also, il resembles both
weasel and cat.
The roofs OF the HOUSES ia that part VI the
country are usually covered with tiie~. The
cacOmiNtle takes up its residence between
the tiles and the Taftcr> 81 a dwelling. de
pending for it, supplies Of food ca its skill
in forlginG. Not few, hut great numbers,
Of these crrIJures live in this fashion. They
are strictly nocturnal. though occasionally
one i secn in the daytime. Not infrequent-
ly one sees half dozen Of them playingt0-
gethcr on n roof At Night They are very
skillful ut catching chickens. and their
predatory ways cause them to be regarded
by houSeholders a. enemies rather than aS
pets
Why do not the people Kill tnems They
do occasionally, but the animals have such
good hiding places in the roofs that they
are difficult to get ut. They only come out
at night and are very wary. But the chief
reason why they are tolerated i that the
natives are too lazy to take the trouble to
catch them, preferring to put up with the
loss of their chickens, etc. | captured one
by using a fowl for bait and surrounding
it on all sides with steel traps In the
morning several Of the traps were sprung,
but save in a single instance only Scraps Of
fur remained To tell the tale, the beasts
having made their escape. When taken
young, they are quickly tanned, but their
bodies emit n powerful and disagreeable
efiiuvium when they are excited, 50 that
one has a desire to lie elsewhere. On tina;
account they are not desirable pets
/ had an odd adventure near GuAdala-
jara- That city i situated On high pla-
teau and owing to its elevation has de
liGhtfully cool climate. Though actually
in the tropics. il i 10 all iUtcnts and pur-
poses in the temperate zone. But within
short distance OF the town one may descend
into region l, 80 feet below, where the
vegetation is wholly tropical in character
and where coffee, pineApples and manages
are raised. Naturally the fauna Of this
lower level i different from that 81 the
heights a. i the flora, and there found
an attractive hunting ground for binds and
small mammals. One morning, having
spent the night at the bottom Of baFran-
ca, or canyon. | WAS somewhat alarmed TO
find my horse bleeding prOfu>ely from what
] at first took To h. a stab wound. inflicted
by "A knife. On examination ami inquiry il
appeared that the animal had lecn bitten
10y a ''vampirc hat" such h..t- the ma
IiveS informed me. are quite Plr=Jiful in
that ucighhoriunl Sometimes they iufiict
serious iu}uTjC>-
This species of IaI IL v,ll known 1t j.
not very large, having q wing spread Of
only Ia or u inches But il j. rendered
! formidable 10y rather extraordinary den
a tai equipment l->it.td 81 the usual four
Z inCi~ors it has only two, blJt they arc very
| long and sharp a. rslzuy~. They are
| SHAPED exactly like >Hber~ They are at
! in the upper jaw and lit into sockets in the
1 lower Jaw. BETTER instruments for cutting
/ could hanily hc imagined The auirlai !
! nocturnal in its habits, like other hats. It's
! head b,'0rs a curious likeness To that al a
bulldog. and dare say that il has "a DISPOSE
| tion to match The natives Say that it will
! attack human lstin-s who venture TO sleep in
! the open air ut night. They have 4 theory
that branches Of pine hung over the open
| doors and windows 81 dwellings and harms
will keep the vampires from entering. but
| l seriously doubt IL there i any ground ful
/ such belief
] brought b.toa with r;., - .-tvJCu Il i
now big a god sized terrier. but il
was quite young when Sut it-only few
inches long, in laCt->o that il has besn per
fvcIly tanned. Until reCvuily 1t WAS per
mittei 10 run about the hou>s, but now il
/ has 10 tx kept chained up because il Is -
| iuQui>itIVr and mjsyLicvOu>. Il share
those traits with the raccOOn, 10 which il
j. nearly lated In lis wild state the te
jon lives in Troops Of Is or ~ individuals
They - about investigating rutten tree
and stumpS for insects, They rob binds
uc>t> 81 their e-E>. steal fruit and destroy
! cora when il il in The milk. Consequently
the natives rc-aT,l them a pests They n,
found in the TERRA caliente, or hot region
along the coast.
found some very peculiar crabs at LAKE
( ChapSla. That i the biggest lake Of MeNi
Gu beautiful sheet Of water a. miles il
length. The crabs are quite small, but they
exist there in such vast mum hCrs As 10 con
tribute an important item TO the fare of tn,
natives. Theirculcr i that Of the garnet, a.
nearly as can describe il. I caught - O
them in an afternoon, picking them NJ
from beneath stones along the waters edge
OF course they are fresh water crabs Prob
ably you are aware that there are no fresl
water crabs in the United States Curious
ly enough, discovered that the species wa
new to science, though lake Chapala haa
been visited by ever - many Travellers
procured several specimens OF the ''clAr
in, :" which all through Mexico : The MOS
| highly priced OF cage binds. The oriEiua
stock i said TO have cOne from the state Z.
Vera Graz. Its song Is the very essence o
the deep, shady woods and falling wafer
. Poured forth suddenly, 1t II Is a surprising
tiukling. metallic quality. In fact, its mu
sic is more remark able than that of an,
other bird know of.-WaShington Star,