216 To the River Plate and Back 



that it is necessary to employ an axe or a saw in order to 

 cut it. The thickest part of the skin is filled by the little 

 ossicles referred to, pressed one against the other, present- 

 ing on the inner surface of the skin an arrangement similar 

 to the pavement of a street. The exterior surface shows 

 a continuous epidermis, not scaly, covered with coarse 

 hair, hard and stiff, having a length of four to five centi- 

 meters and a reddish tint turning toward gray. 



The skin indeed belongs to the pangolin which Lista saw 

 living. This unfortunate traveler lost his life, like Crevaux, 

 in his attempt to explore the Pilcomayo, and until the 

 present time he is the only civilized person who has seen 

 the mysterious edentate of Southern Patagonia alive; and 

 to attach his name appropriately to the discovery, I call 

 this surviving representative of the family Mylodontidae 

 Neomylodon listai. 



Now that there are certain proofs of its existence, we 

 hope that the hunt for it will not be delayed, and that 

 before long we may be able to present to the scientific 

 world a detailed description of this last representative of a 

 group which has of old played a preponderating part in the 

 terrestrial faunas which have succeeded each other on 

 South American soil. 



Ameghino followed his account of Neomylodon listai, 

 which he had printed and widely distributed in Europe 

 and the United States among scientific men and periodi- 

 cals, by an article which appeared in La Pirdmide 

 of Buenos Aires, under date of June 15, 1899, under the 

 title Un sobriviviente actual de los Megaterios de la 

 antigua Pampa. Among other things he says: 



Recently my brother, Carlos Ameghino, who for the past 

 twelve years has been making collections and carrying on 

 geological investigations in the Patagonian regions, suc- 

 ceeded in somewhat lifting the veil of darkness, which until 



