354 Megatherium Cuvkri. 



ORDER EDENTATA. 



Genus Megath^^ju*^, Cuv. 



M. Ctwieriy of authors. 



Cuv. Ossesiens Fossilis, 3d ed. vol. v. part 1st, p. 174, pi. 16 ; Megatherium^ S. L. 

 Mitchell, Ann. of the Lye. N. York, vol. i. p. 58, pi. 6, and Wm. Cooper, ut 

 supra, vol. i. p. 114, pi. 7, and vol. ii. p. 267; Harlan's Fauna Americana^ 



p, soe. 



Syn. Anitnal du Paraguay : Animal incognita. 



Loccdity. — In South America, Paraguay, Lima, and in the 

 vicinity of the River Luxan, three leagues south-west of Bue- 

 nos Ay res, whence was obtained the skeleton nearly entire in 

 the Madrid Museum. In 1828, remains of this fossil animal 

 were first discovered in North America. Specimens from Skid- 

 away Island, Georgia, in the cabinet of tjie New York Lyceum, 

 a detailed account of which will be found in the volume of the 

 Ann. of the Lye. of N. York, abov^e referred to, by the late Dr 

 Mitchell, and by William Cooper, Esq. 



Place in the Geological series, — The entire skeleton in the 

 Madrid Museum was obtained on the borders of the river 

 Luxan, South America, in 1789. The jbank in which it oc- 

 curred is only elevated about ten yards. These remains occur 

 most commonly in the great plains of South America, particu- 

 larly in the vicinity of Buenos Ay res; in that flat country, 

 washed by the Panama and its tributaries, the bones being 

 found sunk in the sand of the ancient alluvion, and sometimes, 

 during very dry seasons, when the waters are low, they appear 

 elevated above the surface ; such was the position of those fine 

 and valuable specimens of this fossil animal, recently brought 

 to London, and presented to the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 by Woodbine Parrish, Esq. The inhabitants of a remote disr 

 trict, we are informed, saw the pelvis of the animal appearing 

 above the water, and throwing the lasso drew it on shore, car- 

 ried it to the authorities of Buenos Ayres, from whom Mr Par- 

 rish obtained it, and subsequently sent 100 miles into the 

 country, and with great exertions in dredging and turning off 

 the water, succeeded in obtaining the greater portion of the 

 skeleton, including the massive scaly cloak of the animal, with 

 which it was covered somewhat in the manner of the Chlamy- 

 phorus and Armadillo, together with the caudal vertebrae, nei- 



