84 



CrtANTS AND PIOHIES; 



with shells (Li/mnaea), then appears the right marl, two or 

 three feet deep ; among this marl, and often at the bottom of 

 it, are found great horns, ^vhich we call Elk-horns, We have 

 also found shanks, ami other bones of these beasts in the same 

 place." Total depth of deposit i» 10 op 11 feet. 



52. Another gigantic monster of the Sydenham Island is 

 tlie Megatherium (great beast). This is very conspicuous ; he 

 appears as making an effort to climb a tree. Possibly he has 

 other intentions. His great size, weight and clumsiness, are not 

 at all adapted for tree-climbing — yet- a bear often performs the 

 feat. The latter, however, has an adaptation of limb which 

 has been denied to the Megalhere. We will yet find out his 

 probable object in taking his present position. Mr. Hawkins 

 kindly takes us to see the skeletons of the giants in 

 the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. Having 

 examined them with wonder and interest, he takes me to 

 his workshop in a vault of the building. Here he is at work 

 on the remains of another monster, a Gli/ptodon, attempting, 

 from a confused pile of fragments, to restore the original. He 

 shows me the teeth. They are exquisitely sculptured. From 

 these the creature has received its name. We now examine an 

 iron-frame work, which is partially covered on its top with a 

 tcsselated coat composed of the ornamented scutes, of which 

 the pile is chiefly composed. It looks somewhat like the cara- 

 pace of a tortoise. The enthusiast has a great work to 

 accomplish in selecting the proper scute from the confusion of 

 the pile to apply to its neighbor scute before the work can be 

 perfected. Its feet are not in position, nor its wonderfully 

 formed tail. This is solid and knobbed like an Indiar^ war- 

 club. The work was successfully completed. The Glyptodon 

 davipes (club-fo<)ted) is now one of the wonders of the greai 

 museum of the E, C. S., London. It measures about 9 feet in 

 length. A picture of Glypfodon is in Dana's Text Book. The 

 Megatherium and the Gli/pfodon are extinct animals of South 

 America. Scutes of the latter were early found among tho 

 bones of the former, and gave rife to the belief, which Buckland 

 and others entertained, that the Megatlnrium was protected by 



