EXTINCT aUADRUrEDri. 105 



like a camel, wliicli I shall also refer to again. Last- 

 ly, the Toxodon, perhaps one of the strangest an- 

 imals ever discovered : in size it equalled an ele- 

 phant or megatherium, but the structure of its teeth, 

 as Mr. Owen states, proves indisputably that it was 

 intimately related, to the Gnawers, the order which, 

 at the present day, includes most of the smallest 

 quadrupeds : in many details it is allied to the Pa- 

 chydermata: judging from the position of its eyes, 

 ears, and. nostrils, it was probably aquatic, like the 

 Dugong and Manatee, to which it is also allied. 

 How wonderfully are the ditierent Orders, at the 

 present time so well separated, blended together 

 in different points of the structure of the Toxodon ! 



The remains of these nine great quadrupeds, 

 and many detached bones, were found embedded 

 on the beach, within the space of about 200 yards 

 square. It is a remarkable circumstance that so 

 many different species should be found together; 

 and it proves how numerous in kind the ancient in- 

 habitants of this country must have been. At the 

 distance of about thirty miles from P. Alta, in a 

 cliff of red earth, I found several fragments of 

 bones, some of lai-ge size. Among them were the 

 teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size and closely re- 

 sembling those of the Capybara, whose habits have 

 been described ; and therefore, probably, an aquat- 

 ic animal. There was also part of the head of a 

 Ctenomys ; the species being difterent from the 

 Tucutuco, but with a close general resemblance. 

 The red earth, like that of the Pampas, in which 

 these remains were embedded, contains, according 

 to Professor Ehrenbei'g, eight fresh- water and one 

 salt-water infusorial animalcule ; therefore, proba- 

 bly, it was an estuary deposit. 



The remains at Punta Alta were embedded in 

 Btratified gravel and reddish mud, just such as the 



