82 BAHIA BLANCA. [chap. v. 



nearly perfect skeleton. It must have been as large as a rhino- 

 ceros : in the structure of its head it comes, according to Mr. 

 Owen, nearest to the Cape Ant-eater, but in some other respects it 

 approaches to the armadilloes. Fourthly, the Mylodon Darwinii, 

 a closely related genus of little inferior size. Fifthly, another gi- 

 gantic edental quadruped. Sixthly, a large animal, with an osseous 

 coat in compartments, very like that of an armadillo. Seventhly, 

 an extinct kind of horse, to which I shall have again to refer. 

 Eighthly, a tooth of a Pachydermatous animal, probably the same 

 Avith the Macrauchenia, a huge beast with a long neck like a camel, 

 which I shall also refer to again. Lastly, the Toxodon, perhaps 

 one of the strangest animals ever discovered : in size it equalled an 

 elephant 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 

 Pachydermata : 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 different 

 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 de- 

 tached bones were found embedded on the beach, within the 

 space of about 200 yards square. It is a remarkable circum- 

 stance that so many different species should be found together ; 

 and it proves how numerous in kind the ancient inhabitants 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 frag- 

 ments of bones, some of large size. Among them were the teeth 

 of a gnawer, equalling in size and closely resembling those of 

 the Capybara, whose habits have been described ; and therefore, 

 probably, an aquatic animal. There was also part of the head of 

 a Ctenomys ; the species being different from the Tucutuco, but 

 with a close general resemblance. The red earth, like that of 

 the Pampas, in which these remains were embedded, contains, ac- 

 cording to Professor Ehrenberg, eight fresh-water and one salt- 

 water infusorial animalcule ; therefore, probably, it was an 

 estuary deposit. 



The remains at Punta Alta were embedded in stratified gravel 



