OF CREATION. 375 



rably is it contrived to form the base of a column 

 destined to support a vast superincumbent weight, 

 and at the same time to allow of that degree of 

 motion of the fore extremities which is required for 

 the scratching and digging operations of animals like 

 armadilloes. The Glyptodon can only be matched 



Fig. 147 



GLYPTODON. 



by the great land tortoise, whose remains are found 

 fossil in the Sewalik Hills; and we may almost con- 

 sider it to have represented this monster, performing 

 a nearly similar part, and clearing away the decaying 

 animal and vegetable matter, that might otherwise 

 have accumulated and become mischievous. Several 

 species of gigantic size have been determined from 

 the examination of fossils brought to England, and 

 now preserved either in the British Museum or the 

 Royal College of Surgeons. 



The inhabitants of the central plains of South 



