FAUNA AMERICANA. 201 



Dimensions. Total length of the body twelve 

 feet; height at the withers five feet three inches. 



Description. The characteristic traits are those 

 peculiar to the genus. 



Habit (presumed.) The immense thickness of 

 the branches of the lower jaw, which even sur- 

 passes that of the elephant, would appear to in- 

 dicate that this animal was not restricted to eating 

 leaves, but like the elephant and rhinoceros, com- 

 minuted the branches of trees also. Its compact 

 teeth, transversely grooved, are instruments very 

 proper for this purpose. 



Locality. The skeleton, nearly entire, of the 

 Paraguay animal, has been found one hundred feet 

 beneath the sandy diluvial, in the neighbourhood 

 of the river Luxan, three leagues south-west of 

 Buenos Ayres ; two other skeletons less complete 

 have been sent to Spain, one from Paraguay, the 

 other from Lima. In North America the remains 

 of this animal have been recently discovered in 

 the marshes of Skidaway island, on the sea-coast 

 of Georgia. 



Genus. 



Megalonix, Jefferson. 



Char. Molars cylindrical, simple, hollow in the 

 centre of their crowns, with the margins of the 

 enamel projecting. 



Species. 



1 . Megalonix jeffersonii. Megath criiim jeffer- 

 sonii^ Desm. Mammalogie, p. 336. »>^*^^^^« tt»^^55 



