Strong and Ferocious Beast. 165 



which it is said to have inhabited, I think there is 

 good reason to believe. What this animal was; 

 at what period it ceased to be seen ; and what was 

 the more pure account of the Indians concerning it, 

 one hundred years ago, I do not pretend to deter- 

 mine. 



Possibly, the Indian tradition refers to the' large 

 animal (I mean an individual of the same species), 

 some of whose bones have been found in a cavern, in 

 the back parts of Virginia; the animal of which men- 

 tion is made in the First Part of this Journal*. It is 

 true, indeed, that the Indian accounts of the activity 

 of the New- York animal are not very favourable to 

 the idea, that that animal was Mr. Jefferson's Mega- 

 lonyx, which, I have supposed, belonged to the order 

 Tadigrada, comprehending the Sloth, the Armadillo, 

 and others. What is said of the claws of the Jagisho 

 may be thought to favour the notion, that this was 

 really the megalonyx, or megatherium. But I would 

 not be understood to place any dependance upon the 

 minute or descriptive circumstances which are men- 

 tioned in the Indian tradition. Nor, indeed, do I 

 think it at all probable, that the megalonyx (as it is 

 called), or any of the species of elephants whose exu- 

 viaj abound in various parts of North-America, have 

 been seen, in a living state, in this continent, within 

 the period of two, or even twice two, hundred years. 



Editoii. 



» Section Third, p. 152—154. 



