326 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 1898 
across. I have carefully studied these little bones from every point 
of view without being able to discern any essential difference from 
those found in a fossil state. 
These ossicles were taken from a skin which was unfortunately 
incomplete, and without any trace of the extremities. The skin, 
which was found on the surface of the ground, and showed signs of 
being exposed for several months to the action of the air, is in part 
diseoloured. It has a thickness of about 2 centimetres, and is so 
tough 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, presenting 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 4 to 5 centi- 
metres and a reddish tint turning towards grey. 
The skin indeed belongs to the pangolin which Lista saw living. 
This unfortunate traveller lost his life, like Crévaux, in his attempt 
to explore the Pilcomayo, and until the present time he is the only 
civilised person who has seen the mysterious edentate of Southern 
Patagonia alive ; and to attach his name appropriately to the dis- 
covery, I call this surviving representative of the family Mylodon- 
tidae Meomylodon listat, 
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 pre- 
ponderating part in the terrestrial faunas which have succeeded each 
other on South American soil, FLORENTINO AMEGHINO. 
