

FOSSIL ANIMAL S. 



By the researches of geologists, we are not only made 

 acquainted with the probable process by which the earth's 

 surface has arrived at its present condition, but they also 

 unfold to us the astonishing fact that whole races of vege- 

 tables, as well as animals, once existed on this earth, which 

 are now extinct. 



A gigantic skeleton of an immense animal has been found 

 in the earth near Buenos Ayres : it is nearly as large as the 

 elephant, its body being nine feet long and seven feet high. 

 Its feet were enormous, being a yard in length, and more 

 than twelve inches wide. They were terminated by gigan- 

 tic claws ; while its huge tail, which probably served as a 

 means of defence, Was larger than that of any other beast, 

 living or extinct. 



The form of its teeth proved that this large animal must 

 have lived upon vegetables ; and its claws were probably 

 used for digging, up the roots on which it is supposed to 

 have fed. 



This animal has been called the Megatherium : mega, 

 (great,) therion, (wild beast.) It was of the sloth species, 

 and seems to have had a very thick skin, like that of the 

 armadillo, set on in plates, resembling a coat of armor. 

 There are no such animals in existence how : they belong 

 to a former state of this earth. 



There are also many other fossil animals belonging to 

 the ancient earth. One of them is called the Ichthyosaurus, 

 or fish lizard. It had the teeth of a crocodile, the head of 

 a lizard, and the fins or paddles of a whale. These fins, 

 or paddles, were very curious, and consisted of above a 

 hundred small bohes, closely united together. This animal 

 used to live principally at the bottoms of rivers, and devour 

 amazing quantities of fish, and other water animals, and 







