Megalonyx Jeffersoriii. 865 



thpr of which had ever been previously found. The os femoris 

 is more than twice the thickness of that of the elephant. The 

 bones of \\i^ feet are raqre th^n » yard long and twelve inches 

 wide. 



4^^ regaprds the positipn pf the remains of this animal disco- 

 vered in North America, we are indebted for all the informa- 

 tipn we possess o\\ the subject, to the observations of Mr Wil- 

 liam Cooper. — Vide Ann. of the Lyceum of New York, vol. i. 

 p. 124. 



'f ^y inquiries haye not, ^ yet, enabled me to give any 

 very precise information respecting the locality of these bones, 

 or the character of the formation in which they were found : 

 their appearance, hpwever, indicate that they have been over- 

 flowed by the sea ; and they appear to have had one side im- 

 bedded in the earth or mud, while the other was washed by the 

 salt water. They are thinly incrusted in some places with 

 FlustrdE. and other zoophites, and have recent shells of the ge- 

 nus Balanus and Ostrea adhering to them. AH are remarkably 

 hard and heavy, and of a deep black colour ; they do not re- 

 tain any of their animal matter.'** 



It is further stated : " These bones are still to be procured 

 in great quantity, by some labour and expense, at the same 

 place. Bones of the same kind may be obtained at two other 

 places : one called White Bluffs also on the sea coast of Georgia, 

 the other at some distance up the Savannah river.*" 



We have only to remark, that the relative possession of the 

 bones above referred to, as regards the waters of the ocean, 

 appears to be due to accident, or recent exposure ; the fractured 

 surfaces of the bones still retain their angles, and in other re- 

 spects display sufficient evidence that they have not been exposed 

 to the action of running water; they apparently occupy the 

 situation in which they were originally deposited. 



Genus Megalokyx, Jefferson. 

 M. Jeffgrsonii, Harlan, Fauna Americana, p. 201. 

 M. Jeffersoniiy Desm. Mammalogie, p. 336. 

 Megalokyx, Jefferson. 

 Trans, of the Am. Philos. Soc. vol. iv., old series, p. 246, and Wistar, same vol. 

 p. 626, pi. 1 & 2; Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, vol. v. part 1, p. 160, pi. 15, 3d 

 edition. 



The characters pf the genus, being founded on a single mo- 



