A REMARKABLE GROUND SLOTH 



DISCOVERY 



On February 25, 1928, a letter was received from Ewing Waterhouse of El Paso, 

 Texas, announcing the discovery of a remarkable animal and inclosing photographs 

 and drawings and asking for information. From the pictures it was at once evident 

 that a ground sloth had been discovered in a marvelous degree of preservation, and 

 negotiations were straightway begun for its purchase for the Peabody Museum at 

 Yale. This was made possible by a grant from the T. Mitchell Prudden Fund for the 

 securing of archaeological material, established by bequest of T. Mitchell Prudden, 

 Ph.B. 1872, and the specimen was shortly received at New Haven. Mr. Leo V. Hor- 

 ton, a Yale alumnus who was at the time in Texas, went at once to El Paso, and it is 

 largely due to his prompt and enthusiastic efforts that the purchase was effected. 



As the locality proved to be on public domain, the aid of United States Senator 

 Hiram Bingham of Connecticut was invoked to clear our title to the specimen, and by 

 his good offices the Department of the Interior, upon the recommendation of the au- 

 thorities of the United States National Museum, granted the Peabody Museum full 

 right of possession. The privilege of further exploration of the immediate locality, to- 

 gether with the surrounding region, has been granted jointly to the Peabody Museum 

 and the National Museum. The cordial cooperation of the Department of the Interior 

 and of Messrs. Wetmore and Gilmore of the National Museum is deeply appreciated 

 at Yale. 



LOCALITY 



The remarkable specimen discussed in this memoir comes from Dona Ana County, 

 New Mexico, some ninety miles by road and forty-five directly northwest of El Paso, 

 not far from the little town of Aden. In August, 1928, Prof. Chester R. Longwell of 

 Yale, guided by Waterhouse, made a reconnaissance of the region and descended into 

 the sloth pit, seeing for himself the conditions under which the specimen was pre- 

 served. An extract from his report to the Director of the Museum follows: 



The sloth was found at an extinct volcanic crater 4 miles south of the Southern Pacific 

 Railroad between Deming, New Mexico, and El Paso, the precise locality being indicated on 

 the accompanying map (Fig. 1). The crater is one of several volcanic features of the region in 

 which basaltic lava is widespread, constituting the only rock exposed within a radius of many 

 miles. While there are several more or less distinct craters and a number of especially prominent 

 lava flows in the general area, some of which appear to be very recent geologically, the Aden 

 Crater is the only striking feature of this kind in the immediate vicinity and hence is readily 

 identified. 



The Aden Crater rises somewhat less than 200 feet above the surrounding plain, with a 

 rather abrupt and very rugged rim. This rim encloses an area about a quarter of a mile across, 

 the floor of which is nearly flat and lies 20 to 40 feet below. The floor has, in places, a thin soil 



