La Plata 119 



was amusing and was volubly carried on in French, 

 German, and Spanish, the disputants on the impulse 

 of the moment passing from the use of one language 

 to that of another. The ludicrous character of the 

 debate finally provoked a burst of laughter, and at 

 the suggestion of the writer it was decided that upon the 

 whole it would be best to defer the settlement of the 

 questions at issue until the return in a few days of 

 the Assistant Director, who would have plenary power to 

 decide them. It was pointed out that it would require 

 several days to carefully unpack the thirty-four large 

 boxes in the basement in which the replica had been 

 brought from Pittsburgh, and possibly to repair some 

 minor defects, should any breakage have occurred, and 

 that no time would be lost by letting the matter go over 

 until Dr. Herrero-Ducloux should resume his post. 

 Orders were at once given to begin the work of unpack- 

 ing. Thereupon Dr. Roth hurried me into the great 

 halls of paleontology, which are his special domain, and 

 pointed out to me the truly wonderful collection of 

 skeletons of the extinct animals of Argentina which has 

 been brought together. It was only a rapid glance 

 which could at the moment be given to these things, but 

 it was most illuminating and interesting. No collec- 

 tion in any museum is complete, but here I found what 

 I think must be admitted to be upon the whole the best 

 representation of the strange forms of mammalian 

 life which once existed upon the pampas. Many of the 

 specimens are singularly perfect, and all are well dis- 

 played and mounted. From the first floor we ascended 

 to the second, and were introduced to the Librarian. 

 We visited the Art Galleries in a hurried way, and the 

 rooms in which the students of art in the University 

 were pursuing their studies. Our round of these apart- 



