GIANT SLOTHS AND ARMADILLOS 285 



distance from the place where the first had been found. It 

 was in the year 1832 that Sir Woodbine Parish sent his valuable 

 collection of bones from Buenos Ayres, and presented them to 

 the Eoyal College of Surgeons. These specimens formed the 

 subject of Mr. Clift's memoir above quoted. But even then the 

 materials were not complete for a thorough knowledge of the bony 

 framework of the Megatherium, and it was not till 1845, when 

 more remains (discovered near Luxan, 1837) reached this country, 

 that Sir Eichard Owen was able to clear up one or two doubtful 

 details. These were purchased by the trustees of the British 

 Museum, and casts of the bones were taken. Among the various 

 writings by learned men on the subject, Owen's masterly descrip- 

 tion stands pre-eminent ; indeed, he was the only one to solve 

 the riddle, to thoroughly explain the structure of this giant sloth, 

 and to show how its food was obtained. 1 Neither Cuvier, nor the 

 German doctors, nor Mr. Clift had succeeded in so doing. 



In the Natural History Museum is a cast representing the 

 animal nearly erect, and grasping a tree. This magnificent cast 

 (see Plate L.) represents an animal eighteen feet in length, 

 and its bones are more massive than those of the elephant. For 

 instance, the thigh-bone is nearly thrice the thickness of the same 

 bone in the largest of existing elephants, the circumference being 

 equal to the entire length. To a comparative anatomist several 

 striking indications of great strength present themselves; thus, 

 not only the very forms of the bones themselves mean strength, 

 but their surfaces, ridges, and crests are everywhere made rough 

 for the firm attachment of powerful muscles and tendons. In 

 the fore part of the body the skeleton is comparatively slender, 



1 His views are expounded in his Memoir on the Megatherium, or Giant 

 Ground Sloth of America, 1861, which is beautifully illustrated. The Eoyal 

 Society gave 100 (part of a Government grant of 1000) to enable Professor 

 Owen to carry out this important work. 



