178 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



with regard to its proper place in the animal kingdom. Accord- 

 ing to one writer, Spain formerly possessed considerable parts of 

 three different skeletons. The first and most complete is that 

 which is preserved in the royal cabinet at Madrid. This was sent 

 over in 1789, by the Marquis of Loreto, Viceroy of Buenos Ayres, 

 with a notice stating that it was found on the banks of the river 

 Luxan. In 1795 a second specimen arrived from Lima, and other 

 portions, probably not very considerable, were in the possession 

 of Father Fernando Scio, to whom they had been presented by a 

 lady from Paraguay. But two German doctors, Messrs. Pander 

 and D' Alton, who published in 1821 a beautiful monograph on 

 the subject, state that they were unable in 1818 to find any traces 

 of either the Lima specimen or that which had belonged to 

 Fernando Scio. 



The remains collected by Sir Woodbine Parish were discovered 

 in the river Salado, which runs through the flat alluvial plains 

 (Pampas) to the south of the city of Buenos Ayres, after a suc- 

 cession of three unusually dry seasons, " which lowered the waters 

 in an extraordinary degree, and exposed parts of the pelvis to 

 view as it stood upright in the bottom of the river." 1 



This and other parts having been carried to Buenos Ayres by 

 the country people, were placed at the disposal of Sir Woodbine 

 Parish by Don Hilario Sosa, the owner of the property on which 

 the bones were found. A further inquiry was instituted by Sir 

 Woodbine; and on his application, the governor granted assistance, 

 the result of which was the discovery of the remains of two other 

 skeletons on his Excellency's properties, at no" great 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 Royal 

 College of Surgeons. These specimens formed the subject of 



1 " Some Account of the Remains of the Megatherium sent to England from 

 Buenos Ayres, by Woodbine Parish, Jun., Esq., F.R.S.," by Wm. Clift, Esq., 

 F.R.S., Geological Transactions, second series, vol. iii. p. 437. 



