466 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



abundantly as in the valley of the Plate ;. in fact, most are unknown in 

 other parts of the world. The National Museum at Buenos Ayres has 

 a collection especially of Glyptodons and Megatheriums unequaled by 

 any museum in the world ; has, indeed, of the former a greater number 

 than are to be found in all other collections. These fossils, found in 

 the Argentine Republic, are objects of special legislation, inasmuch as 

 Congress has by law forbidden their exportation except with the con- 

 sent of the director of the museum. This consent is given only in 

 those cases where duplicates equally good and interesting are already 

 in the museum. Dr. Burmeister informs me that there are but three 

 specimens of the Glyptodon anything like complete in European mu- 

 seums, and that in the United States he believes there are none. Even 

 those which are in Europe are imperfect in some important features; 

 none of them, for instance, showing the interesting annular connec- 

 tions between the carapace and the base of the tail, thus very much 

 marring the symmetrical appearance which the fossil in reality pos- 

 sesses. The Glyptodon, as will be remembered, is one of the most 

 conspicuous objects in the collection of casts of fossils made at Roches- 

 ter, and now found in several American museums. 



During my stay in Buenos Ayres there has been exhumed a more 

 perfect Glyptodon than any yet in foreign museums, and, as Prof. 

 Burmeister has the same species, I have bought it and shall bring it 

 to the United States. 



Besides the remains of extinct animals, the National Museum is 

 rich in specimens of recent fauna, particularly insects. It also con- 

 tains many objects of archaeological and historical interest. Its min- 

 eralogical collection is of very trifling importance. 



At present the museum appears to be overfilled, and it is evident 

 that lai'ger accommodations than the present are very much needed. 



Dr. Burmeister has published the Anales del Museo Publico now 

 for a number of years, which contains excellent and detailed descrip- 

 tions of many new species, the originals of which are in the museum. 

 In this work the huge edentates and other mammalia which have 

 made this museum so famous are described and figured. 



Scientific Journals in Buenos Ayres. In 1873 there was pub- 

 lished a journal devoted to science, denominated El Ateno Argent mo. 

 It, however, expired, after six numbers had appeared. I* was, I believe, 

 a monthly. 



The following year in May the Anales Cientljicos Argentinos was 

 begun as a scientific monthly, of about thirty-two pages each number. 

 The copy now before me contains about twenty pages of original inves- 

 tigation, the balance excerpta and translations. Five numbers of this 

 journal appeared when the Mitre revolution, which for the time being 

 paralyzed so many undertakings, extinguished also this laudable pri- 

 vate enterprise. 



A few months ago the Sociedad Cientitica Argentina, of which I 



