1899] THE DISCOVERER OF KITCHEN-MIDDENS 265 



having first discovered the unexpected nature of the great shell 

 accumulations. He acted as reporter for the trio who, together or 

 separately, at first unofficially, and then as an official committee, 

 investigated those vast leavings of prehistoric luxury. The three 

 scientific men concerned were Forchhammer, Steenstrup, and Worsaae, 

 and the transaction begins half a century ago. But by a careful 

 comparison of dates, and casual notes in a diary, and the precise wording 

 of reports, Dr. Soreusen has clearly shown that the first and second of 

 those authorities were forestalled in the true explanation by the third. 

 While Forchhammer and Steenstrup were still accounting for the 

 position of the seeming oyster-beds, high above the sea-level, on such 

 hypotheses as the depression of the water or elevation of the land 

 since the molluscs had been deposited, Worsaae had the luck and the 

 wit to find evidence that the phenomenon was indisputably due to the 

 agency, not of inanimate nature, but of man. Steenstrup's own earlier 

 researches had contributed to prove the existence of men in Denmark 

 at a time when the shell-heaps were in process of accumulation, so 

 that he readily endorsed a discovery which he may have thought that 

 Worsaae had taken almost from between his teeth. Fifty years ago it 

 was an audacity to believe in men so very ancient as these oyster- 

 eaters. Now we only think of their audacity in eating so many 

 oysters. 



The Patagoiiian Ground-Sloth, Neomylodon. 



Zoologists are still much exercised concerning the supposed existing 

 ground-sloth of Patagonia, and the Zoological Society of London 011 

 February 21 devoted the greater part of an evening to a discussion 

 of its skin. We were the first, last October and November (vol. xiii. 

 pp. 288, 324-326), to recognise the importance of Dr. Ameghino's 

 announcement of the discovery of this remarkable skin fragment, 

 which he briefly described under the name of Neomylodon listed. We 

 also made his privately -printed pamphlet generally accessible by 

 inserting an English translation of it in our November number. Two 

 months ago we announced (vol.-xiv. p. 171) that Dr. F. P. Moreno, 

 Director of the La Plata Museum, had brought a piece of this 

 identical skin to England and exhibited it to the Zoological Society 

 of London. We now have pleasure in briefly reporting Dr. Moreno's 

 account of the discovery of the specimen, and Mr. Smith Woodward's 

 detailed description of its characters, which formed the basis of the 

 Zoological Society's discussion on February 21, to which we have 

 referred. 



It appears that Dr. Moreno found the piece of skin hanging in a 

 tree at a farm near Consuelo Cove, Last Hope Inlet, in Southern 

 Patagonia. On his expressing interest in the specimen, the owner 



