VIII NEOMYLODON OR GLOSSOTHERIUM ISI 
The well-known naturalist of La Plata, Sefior Moreno, engaged 
in studies connected with the political boundary line between 
Chil and the Argentine, had occasion to visit Consuelo Cove 
on Last Hope Inlet in Patagonia. Hanging from a tree he 
noticed a piece of dried skin, which at once struck him as looking 
more like the remains of a Mylodon than of any living animal. 
The inhabitants regarded this piece of skin as a great curiosity, 
but were of opinion that it was the hide of a cow encrusted with 
peebles! This fragment from a bygone age was originally 
described by Professor Ameghino, who had apparently seen some of 
the bonelets imbedded in it, as Neomylodon listai, “a living 
representative of the ancient Gravigrade Edentates of Argentina.” 
That this piece of skin is of quite recent date seems to be proved 
by a number of considerations. In the first place it is covered 
by long hair of a light yellowish-brown colour; it does not seem 
likely that hair would preserve its character for geological epochs. 
The nearest corresponding case is that of the remains of Moas in 
New Zealand, whose feathers, dried skin, and tendons are known. 
Now the Moa was unquestionably contemporaneous with man, as 
abundant surviving legends prove, and indeed it cannot have been 
long extinct. Still, hair is a resisting structure, and in a dry cave, 
with no possibility of irruptions of floods, might retain its characters 
for long periods. The evidence, however, of more recent date is 
stronger than this. The skin shows patches of reddish colour, sugges- 
tive of course of blood-stains. A small piece of the outside of the 
skin at the cut edge, which presented the appearance of freshly 
or comparatively freshly dried fluid, was submitted to a chemical 
examination and shown to be serum! Dr. Lonnberg examined 
chemically a bit of the skin itself and found in it, after boiling, 
glue, “which proves that the collagen and gelatinous substances 
are perfectly preserved.” After this it seems impossible to suppose 
that the skin can be of any very great age; for bacteria would 
have finished their work upon the serum and gelatine long ago. 
Combined with the fresh appearance of the skin is the very 
fresh appearance of the skull. In fact it is impossible to believe 
that the animal was not alive quite a few years since, relatively 
speaking. It is admitted that this animal was contemporaneous 
with man. There are actually legends of a creature which may 
have been this Glossotheriwm. “Ancient chroniclers inform us 
that the indigenous inhabitants recorded the existence of a 
