284 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



greatly helped to augment the materials for arriving at a just 

 conclusion with regard to its proper place in the animal kingdom. 

 According to one writer, Spain formerly possessed considerable 

 parts of three different skeletons. The first and most complete 

 is that which is preserved in the royal cabinet at Madrid. This 

 was sent over in 1789, by the Marquis of Loreto, Viceroy of 

 Buenos Ayres, with a notice stating that it was found on the 

 banks of the river Luxan. In 1795 a second specimen arrived 

 from Lima, and other portions, probably not very considerable, 

 were in the possession of Father Fernando Scio, to whom they 

 had been presented by a lady from Paraguay. But two German 

 doctors, Messrs. Pander and D' Alton, who published in 1821 a 

 beautiful monograph on the subject, state that they were unable 

 in 1818 to find any traces of either the Lima specimen or that 

 which had belonged to Fernando Scio. 



The remains collected by Sir Woodbine Parish were discovered 

 in the river Salado, which runs through the flat alluvial plains 

 (Pampas) to the south of the city of Buenos Ayres, after a 

 succession of three unusually dry seasons, "which lowered the 

 waters in an extraordinary degree, and exposed parts of the 

 pelvis to view as it stood upright in the bottom of the river." l 



This and other parts having been carried to Buenos Ayres by 

 the country people, were placed at the disposal of Sir Woodbine 

 Parish by Don Hilario Sosa, the owner of the property on which 

 the bones were found. A further inquiry was instituted by Sir 

 Woodbine; and on his application, the governor granted assist- 

 ance, the result of which was the discovery of the remains of 

 two other skeletons on his Excellency's properties, at no great 



1 " Some Account of the Remains of the Megatherium sent to England from 

 Buenos Ayres, by Woodbine Parish, Jun., Esq., F.R.S.," by Wm. Clift, Esq., 

 F.R.S., Geological Transactions, second series, vol. iii., p. 437. 



