224 MAMMALS. 



Tbe inquiry next became complicated with the question whether it was not provided with a 

 carapace like an Armadillo, portions of the carapace of the Glyptodon ha^^ng accompanied some 

 bones of the Megatherium which found their way to Britain. Dr. Buckland, in his " Bridgewater 

 Treatise," warmly espoused this view. The discussion is instructive, but was brought to an end by 

 the receipt of the bones and carapace of the Glyptodon together in such connexion that all doubt on 

 the subject was removed. "While the question was still in doubt however. Professor Owen had 

 ranged himself on the side of those who held that there was no ground for supposing the animal to 

 be provided with any such armature. Dr. Lund next conceived, from the numerous points of 

 resemblance to the Sloths, that its habits must have been the same as others ; and in spite of 

 the improbability of an animal eighteen feet in length, and nearly as bulky in its body as an 

 Elephant, performing such a feat, he conceived that it passed its life clinging to the underside of 

 branches of trees, as the small arboreal Sloths now do.* 



A masterly analysis, by Professor Owen (from whose paper I have picked the above details), 

 of the form and relations of every bone, both of the Mylodonf and Megatherium, J pointing out 

 their affinities to those of other animals, and probable use to themselves, at last settled the matter, 

 and his view is now universally adopted. 



Guided by the general rule that animals having the same kind of dentition ixsed the same 

 kind of food, he concluded that the Megatheriusi must have subsisted like the Sloths on the foliage 

 of trees : but the greater size and strength of the jaws and teeth led him to suppose that, as in the 

 Elephant, small branches might also form a portion of its food. 



The first part of the question which then naturally presented itself, viz. how it reached the leaves 

 and branches, he answered by referring to the structure of its feet, which he showed, independent of 

 the objection derived from the weight and bulk of the creature, were inconsistent with its being a 

 climbing animal. Neither were they adapted wholly for fossorial purposes. Burro\dng animals are 

 not provided with clavicles, but the Megatheeium has very largely developed clavicles ; the fore 

 paws have smaller claws than the hind paws, and are turned inwards, adapting them for grasping ; 

 the hind feet have enormous claws, and great, broad projecting heels, and the whole structure of 

 the peh-is, tail, and hind-legs, show that they were the seat of enormous muscular power. Owen 

 thence inferred that it obtained its food by uprooting and prostrating trees, and that it effected this, 

 first by clearing away the earth about the roots chiefly by its hind-feet, and that then, clasping 

 the tree with its fore-legs, it tugged and strove until it literally tore it up by the roots. 



The next point was, how it plucked off the small branches and leaves for its food : having no 

 incisors it could not nip them off, and its molar teeth being far back in the mouth, it could not use 

 them for that purpose. Its hand was practically limited to one claw, so it could be of little more 

 use than the iron hook, which is sometimes to be seen worn, fastened to their stump by soldiers 

 or sailors who have lost a hand. The only other means which we know to be adopted by nature 

 for such a purpose, arc a nasal trunk, as in the Elephant and its allies, or a long muscular tongue, 

 as in the Camclopard. Cuvier, and subsequently Agassiz, thought that the Megatherium had a 

 proboscis like the elephant, and that it used it for plucldng nutritive fibres and spongioles from the 

 roots ; but, as Owen remarks, it had no pre-nasal bones, and if it had, the snout of the Sow would 

 have been better adapted for such a purpose ; and a truuli would have answered equally well for 



* "Blik paa Brasiliens Dyreverden for sidste Jordom- t Owen on the Mylodon. 4to, Loudon, 1842. 



VEeltnin af Dr. Lund." -Ito. Kjobeiihaveu, 1838. X Owen on tho Megatherium. 4to. Loudon, 18C1. 



