66 



Lifcovtry of Bones of a Quadruped. 



III. 



A Memoir on the Difcovery of certain Bones of a Quadrvped of the Clawed Kind in the Wtf- 

 tern Parts of Virginia. By Thomas Jefferson, Efq. 



( Concluded from page '^2,- ) 



JL HESE bones only enable us to clafs the animal with the unquiculated quadrupeds ; 

 and of thefe the lion being neareft to him in fize, we will compare him with that animal, 

 of whofe anatomy Monfieur Daubenton has furnifhed very accurate meafures in his tables 

 at the end of BufFon's Natural Hiftory of the Lion. Thefe meafures were taken, as he * 

 informs us, from " a large lion of Africa," in which quarter the largeft f are faid to be 

 produced. I (hall fele£l from his meafures only thofe where we have the correfponding 

 bones, converting them into our own inch and its fractions, that the comparifon may be 

 more obvious : and to avoid the embarralTment of defignating our animal always by cir- 

 cumlocution and defcription, I will venture to refer to him by the name of the Great-Claw 

 or Megalonyx, to which he feems fufficiently entitled by the diflinguICied fize of that 

 member. 



Length of the ulna, or fore-arm - - . 



Height of the olecranum _ - . - 



Breadth of the ulna, from the point of the coronoide apophyfis to 



the extremity of the olecranum - _ - 



Breadth of the ulna at its middle _ - - 



Thicknefs at the fame place _ . . - 



Circumference at the fame place - » - 



Length of the radius _ - . - - 



Breadth of the radius at ift head - . 



Circumference at its middle _ - _ 



Breadth at its lower extremity _ . . . 



Diameter of the lower extremity of the femur at the bafe of the 7 



two condyles - - - - 3 



Tranfverfe diameter of the larger condyle at its bafe 

 Circumference of both condyles at their bafe 

 Diameter of the middle of the femur - - ' - 



Hollow of the femur at the fame place 

 Thicknefs of the bone furrounding the hollow 

 Length of the longeft claw 

 Length of the fecond phalanx of the fame 



* BufFon, XVIII. 38. Paris edition in 31 vols, izmoi 

 j- 2. De Manet, ji/. 



Tho. 



