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The Supposed Existing Ground-Sloth 
of Patagonia. 
By A. SmirH Woopwakrb. 
Mucu interest was aroused a year ago by Dr. Ameghino’s announce- 
ment in Natural Science of the discovery of a piece of skin of a ground- 
sloth in Patagonia.| He supposed the specimen to belong to a small 
surviving representative of the gigantic extinct ground-sloths which 
were so abundant in the Pleistocene period in South America, and 
were known to have existed at least until the appearance of man in 
that country. Dr. Ameghino thought that this piece of skin might 
have belonged to a mysterious animal which had been described to 
him by the traveller Ramon Lista, so he named the new creature 
Neomylodon listat. With admirable conciseness he pointed out the 
main features of the skin—how it was completely covered with long 
dense hair, while being at the same time armoured by a close pave- 
ment of small nodules of bone embedded in the lower layer. He also 
quite correctly recognised that the bony armour was most closely 
paralleled by that dug up with the skeleton of the great extinct 
Mylodon in the Pampa formation in various parts of the Argentine 
Republic. 
More precise details of this discovery were subsequently published 
by Dr. Moreno, Director of the La Plata Museum, and by Dr. Otto 
Nordenskjéld of Upsala; while a technical description of the skin 
itself was prepared by Dr. Einar Lonnberg and myself. These addi- 
tional communications showed that the specimen in question was dug 
up in the dust of the floor of a large cavern near Last Hope Inlet. 
They also seemed to prove that Neomylodon listat must have been at 
least as large as the well-known Mylodon—that is, not less in bulk 
than a rhinoceros. Notwithstanding the fresh aspect of the piece of 
skin, it thus appeared extremely improbable that the animal was still 
living, and had escaped the notice both of the natives and of explorers. 
Dr. Moreno, indeed, maintained that it was quite extinct, and dated 
back to a time when a former race of men, unknown even to the 
present Tehuelches, inhabited the southern extremity of the South 
American continent. 
1 F, Ameghino, “An Existing Ground-Sloth in Patagonia,” Natwral Science, vol. xiii. 
p. 324 (Nov. 1898). 
* See Natural Science, vol. xiv. p. 265 (April 1899). 
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