SVENSKA EXPEDITIONEN TILL MAGELLANSLÄNDERNA. BD. II. N:0 7. 165 



same as in Dasypodidce. It has most probably been situated 

 011 a leg, the function of whicli has been only to carry and 

 suppurt its Walking owner, and perhaps also now and tlien 

 to Scratch a little in the earth. 1t is also plainly conspicuous 

 that the left side has been more worn and the right more 

 protected. This can be seen from the fact that the »glazing» 

 extends further distal ly on the latter side and that the lower 

 surface is also less worn on this side (conf. above). These 

 circumstances prove that this claw has been situated so that 

 its straight right side which is less worn, as well on its 

 upper and lateral as on its lower surface, has been directed 

 towards another claw. The same thing is shown by the fact 

 that the upper side of the claw is highest close to the steep 

 right side, from which it is slightly sloping towards the left. 

 If we make a comparison between this claw and those of the 

 true Mylodon, for instance Mylodon robustus Owen, 1 we find 

 at once that there are some distinct differences. In the lat- 

 ter the large claws were more curved than in »Neomylodon> 

 to judge from the tigures of the lingual phalanges reproduced 

 by the author mentioned. They also seem to have been more 

 compressecl or to have had longer vertical diameters. That 

 is, expressed with other words, this claw of »Neomylodon» is 

 flatter and more depressed than the large claws of Mylodon. 

 The small claws of Mylodon were not so nmch curved, but 

 they too were more compressed and had comparatively longer 

 vertical diameters than this claw of »Neomylodon». During 

 such circumstances it is not easy to teil with which of the 

 claws of Mylodon this one corresponds. But I am most in- 

 clined to believe that it has been one of the claws of the 

 hindlegs because it is so little differentiated in its form. If 

 this is right and if »Neomylodon» like Mylodon has only had 

 tvvo claws on each of the hindlegs, this one, to judge from its 

 shape, must have been either the left claw of the left foot, 

 that is, the claw of the third toe (the hallux is missing) or 

 the left claw of the right foot, that is the claw of the second 

 toe. If the reduction of the claws, in size as well as in num- 

 ber, has been about the same in >]S!eo>nylodon> as in Mylodon 

 it seems more probable that the claw described above has be- 

 longed to the third toe of the left bind foot. According to 



1 Owen: Description of au Extinct Grigantic Sloth, London 1842, 



