the species, and giving to the body a considerable degree of flexibility. The bony plates are overlain by horny scales. Armadillos are omnivorous, feeding on roots, insects, worms, reptiles and carrion, and are mostly, though not universally, nocturnal. They are harmless and inoffensive creatures, offering no resistance when caught; their principal means of escape being the extraordinary rapidity with which they burrow in the ground, and the tenacity with which they retain their hold in their subterranean retreats. Notwithstanding the shortness of their limbs they run with rapidity. Most of the species are esteemed good eating by the natives of the countries in which they live. They are all inhabitants of the open plains or the forests of the tropical and temperate parts of South America, with the exception of a few species which range as far north as Texas. The largest species is the giant armadillo (Priodon gigas), measuring nearly a yard long, from the forests of Surinam and Brazil; while one of the smallest is Dasypus minutus, a near ally of the larger D. sexcinctus. The peba (Tatusia novemcincta) represents a group with a large number of movable bands in the armour; while the apar (Tolypeutes tricinctus) and the other members of the same genus are remarkable for their power of rolling themselves up into balls. For the distinctive characters of these and the other genera see Edentata.
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| Peba Armadillo (Tatusia novemcincta). |
ARMAGEDDON, a name occurring in the Authorized Version of the English Bible in Rev. xvi. 16. The Revised Version has Harmagedon. The form is commonly regarded as the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew har megiddōn, the mountain district of Megiddo. The writer is describing the place where the last decisive battle was to be fought at the Day of Judgment, and Harmagedon may have been chosen as the name because the district about Megiddo had been on several occasions the scene of great battles (cf. Judg. iv. 6 ff., v. 19). It has, however, been suggested in the Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, vii. 170 (1887), that the name is for har migdo, “his fruitful mountain”—the mountain land of Israel. Prof. Cheyne (Encyc. Bibl. s.v.) again, following suggestions of H. Gunkel, H. Zimmern and P. Jensen, compares the dragon of the Apocalypse with the Babylonian Tiāmat, thinks that some myth is referred to, and finds the μαγεδων of Ἀρμαγεδων in the divine name Ὑεσεμμιγαδων, a Babylonian god of the underworld. The name of the place where Tiāmat was defeated by Marduk perhaps included that of a god of the underworld. (See Antichrist.) From the application of the word Armageddon to the great battle of the End of Time comes the use of the phrase “an Armageddon” to express any great slaughter or final conflict.
ARMAGH, an inland county of Ireland, in the province of Ulster, bounded N. by Lough Neagh, E. by Co. Down, S. by Louth and W. by Monaghan and Tyrone. The area is 327,704 acres, or about 512 sq. m. The general surface of the county is gently undulating and pleasantly diversified; but in the northern extremity, on the borders of Lough Neagh, there is a considerable tract of low, marshy land, and the southern border of the county is occupied by a barren range of hills, the highest of which, Slieve Gullion, attains an elevation of 1893 ft. In the western portion of the county are the Few Mountains, a chain of abrupt hills mostly incapable of cultivation. The county is well watered by numerous streams. The principal are the Callan, the Tynan and the Tallwater, flowing into the Blackwater, which, after forming the boundary between this county and Tyrone, empties itself into the south-western angle of Lough Neagh. The Tara and Newtown-Hamilton, the Creggan and the Fleury, flow into the bay of Dundalk. The Cam or Camlin joins the Bann, which, crossing the north-western corner of the county, falls into Lough Neagh to the east of the Blackwater. The Newry Canal, communicating with Carlingford Lough at Warrenpoint, 6 m. below Newry, proceeds northward through Co. Armagh for about 21 m., joining the Bann at Whitecoat. The Ulster Canal begins at Charlemont on the river Blackwater, near its junction with Lough Neagh, proceeding through the western border of the county, and passing thence to the south-west by Monaghan and Clones into Upper Lough Erne, after a course of 48 m. Part of Lough Neagh is in the county, and there are many small loughs, such as Gullion, Cam and Ross.
Geology.—The flat shore of Lough Neagh in the north is due to the thick deposit of pale-coloured clays with lignites, which are probably of Pliocene age, and indicate a reduction of the area of the lake in still later times. Between this lowland and Armagh city, the early Cainozoic basalts form slightly higher ground, while on the west a strip of Trias appears, overlying Carboniferous Limestone. A rough conglomerate containing blocks of this latter rock forms the hills on which Armagh itself is built; this outlier is probably Permian. The Carboniferous Limestone beneath it and around it is red-brown instead of grey, and is famous for its richness in fish remains. A hummocky irregular country spreads southward, where the Silurian axis is encountered, in continuation of the southern uplands of Scotland. Slates and fine-grained sandstones appear here freely through the glacial drift. In the south the granite core of this upland is revealed, and is quarried extensively about Bessbrook. It is penetrated by far younger intrusive masses at Slieve Gullion and Forkill. These rocks, which include some highly siliceous lavas, form part of the Eocene series that is so conspicuously displayed above Carlingford in Co. Louth. Lead-veins have been worked in various parts of the county from time to time.
Industries.—The soil of the northern portion of the county is a rich brown loam, on a substratum of clay or gravel. Towards Charlemont there is much reclaimable bog resting on a limestone substratum. The eastern portion of the county is generally of a light friable soil; the southern portion rocky and barren, with but little bog except in the neighbourhood of Newtown-Hamilton. The climate of Armagh is considered to be one of the most genial in Ireland, and less rain is supposed to fall in this than in any other county. Only about one-twentieth of the land is naturally barren, and Armagh offers a relatively large area of cultivable soil. Agriculture, however, is not far advanced, yet owing to the linen industry the inhabitants are generally in circumstances of comparative comfort. The principal crops are oats and potatoes, but all grain crops are decreasing, and flax, formerly grown to a considerable extent, is now practically neglected. The acreage under pasture slightly exceeds that of tillage. Cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry show a general increase in numbers. The principal manufacture, and that which has given a peculiar tone to the character of the population, is that of linen, though it has somewhat declined in modern times. It is not necessary to the promotion of this manufacture that the spinners and weavers should be congregated in large towns, or united in crowded and unwholesome factories. On the contrary, most of its branches can be carried on in the cottages of the peasantry. The men devote to the loom those hours which are not required for the cultivation of their little farms; the women spin and reel the yarn during the intervals of their other domestic occupations. Smooth lawns, pure springs and the open sky are necessary for perfecting the bleaching process. Hence the numerous bleachers dwell in the country with their assistants and machinery. Such is the effect
