MYLODON ROBUSTUS. 175 



related to the comparatively pigmy sloths of the present 

 day. Conceive of a sloth of the size and bulk of a 

 rhinoceros or hippopotamus, but with bones infinitely 

 more massive, muscles infinitely more voluminous and 

 powerful, with a thick tail acting as a support, and forming 

 with the hind-limbs a firm tripod, while the animal, thus 

 raised upright, and exerting its enormous strength, sways 

 the tree to and fro, and lays it at last prostrate ; — and 

 our reader will have a good idea of what this mighty 

 devastator of the primitive forests of South America must 

 have been. 



The skeleton in question was discovered, as we are 

 informed by Professor Owen, ''in the year 1841 by M. 

 Pedro de Angelis, seven leagues north of the city of 

 Buenos Ayres, in the fluviatile deposits constituting the 

 extensive plain intersected by the great Rio Plata and 

 its tributaries, and which has been raised during a recent 

 geological epoch above the level of the sea. 



*' In this formation, and most probably anterior to its 

 elevation, the animal must have been buried entire, and, 

 if the present heat of the climate prevailed, soon after 

 its death, for the parts of the skeleton were found little 

 disturbed, and the very few bones that are wanting are 

 such as would be likely to escape the search of the most 

 diligent collector. 



" About the same time and near the same place a tes- 

 selated osseous carapace of some large quadruped like an 

 armadillo was exhumed, and information of this discovery 

 having been communicated to the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons by Sir Woodbine Parish, late Her Majesty's 

 Charge d'Affaires at Buenos Ayres, both this carapace 

 and the above-mentioned skeleton were purchased by 

 the College. They arrived in November, 1841, in 

 many pieces, fragile from the loss of the animal matter ; 

 but having been restored in some measure to their ori- 

 ginal tenacity, the parts of the carapace were re-united, 

 the skeleton was articulated, and both are now placed in 

 the museum." 



We may here observe that the tesselated carapace 

 belongs to a large extinct armadillo, to which the largest 



i2 



