326 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 1893 



across. I have carefully studied these little bones from every point 

 of view without being able to discern any essential difference from 

 those found in a fossil state. 



These ossicles were taken from a skin which was unfortunately 

 incomplete, and without any trace of the extremities. The skin, 

 which was found on the surface of the ground, and showed signs of 

 being exposed for several months to the action of the air, is in part 

 discoloured. It has a thickness of about 2 centimetres, and is so 

 tough that it is necessary to employ an axe or a saw in order to cut it. 

 The thickest part of the skin is filled by the little ossicles referred to, 

 pressed one against the other, presenting on the inner surface of the 

 skin an arrangement similar to the pavement of a street. The 

 exterior surface shows a continuous epidermis, not scaly, covered 

 with coarse hair, hard and stiff, having a length of 4 to 5 centi- 

 metres and a reddish tint turning towards grey. 



The skin indeed belongs to the pangolin which Lista saw living. 

 This unfortunate traveller lost his life, like Crevaux, in his attempt 

 to explore the Pilcomayo, and until the present time he is the only 

 civilised person who has seen the mysterious edentate of Southern 

 Patagonia alive ; and to attach his name appropriately to the dis- 

 covery, I call this surviving representative of the family Mylodon- 

 tidae Neomylodon listed. 



Now that there are certain proofs of its existence, we hope that 

 the hunt for it will not be delayed, and that before long we may 

 be able to present to the scientific world a detailed description of 

 this last representative of a group which has of old played a pre- 

 ponderating part in the terrestrial faunas which have succeeded each 

 other on South American soil. Florentino Ameghino. 



