Aucust 24, 1899] 
NATURE 397 
able confirmation in the discovery made by the exped- 
itions which I sent in 1897 and in the first months of this 
year, under the direction of Mr. Santiago Roth, expeditions 
that have had astonishing results. 
In beds containing remains of mammals and dino- 
saurians, Mr. Roth discovered in 1897 a caudal sheath- 
ring, very similar to those of the G/yptodon, but which I 
at once recognised as pertaining to a form like the 
chelonian of the Pleistocene of Queensland, described 
by Owen. I brought this fossil with me to London for 
comparison with the remains of (/7o/ania preserved in 
the British Museum (Natural History). The resemblance 
was great, but the fact of a Tertiary chelonian from 
Fic. 1.—a, front view of skull ; 
Megalania prisca by Owen in 1880). 
Patagonia being analogous to the Pleistocene genus from 
Queensland and Lord Howe Island was so astonishing 
that some doubt was permitted ; but, having previously 
ordered a new examination of the fossiliferous bed where 
the remains were found, I have now the certainty of the | 
extremely close relation between the Australian and 
Patagonian chelonian. I have received several photo- 
graphs of a skull discovered by Mr. Roth, which photo- 
graphs, when compared with the Australian specimens 
in the British Museum (Natural History), give no place 
for doubt upon this matter. I think that it is sufficient 
for the present to give two cuts representing the two 
forms of Mzolania. \ expect in a few days the original 
specimen from Patagonia, together with various bones 
and additional remains of the caudal sheath, with some 
of the carapace. These will be the subject of a special 
description by Mr. Arthur Smith Woodward, who has so 
kindly commenced studies on the fossil reptiles in the 
La Plata Museum. 
I have also brought with me to London a piece of a 
skin discovered ina cave near Last Hope Inlet (lat. S 
51° 30’), which I have referred to a species of the extinct 
iWylodon (see “On a Portion of Mammalian Skin, named 
Neomylodon listaz, from a Cavern near Consuelo Cove, 
Last Hope Inlet, Patagonia,” by Dr. F. P. Moreno; 
with a description of the specimen by A. Smith Wood- 
ward) ; while Mr. Ameghino has announced that another 
piece of the same skin pertains to a mammal still 
living, of small size, which he has called Meomylodon. 
When I took this piece at Last Hope Inlet in November 
1898, I was convinced that it was part of the skin of a 
Mylodon or a form very similar to it, and that the dis- 
covery was of great importance to me, as I think that the 
Pampean muds, where the extinct Edentata are found, 
are of very modern age ; an opinion contrary to that held 
by another observer, Mr. Ameghino, who refers the 
Pampean fauna to the Tertiary age. I have already 
maintained that the extinction of the greater part of the 
Pampean fauna took place after the presence of man in 
a relatively advanced culture, called Neolithic culture. 
Having, then, great interest in the continuation of the 
investigations in the cave, I ordered, before coming to 
London, more extensive researches, and these have been 
made with very successful results. 
Dr. Otto Nordenskjéld had previously obtained in 1896 
a piece of the same skin, which, it is known, was dis- | 
NO. 1556, VOL. 60| 
and s,side view o. tail-sheath, of MWrolania Oweni (greatly 
reduce i in size) from Pleistocene deposits, Queensland, ‘Australia {originally described as 
covered by a party of Argentine surveyors during the 
preliminary studies for the “boundary between Argentina 
and Chili in the Andean Cordillera, and, recognising also 
the importance of it, Dr. Erland Nordenskjald went last 
year to the same spot to look for some more remains. 
The excavations which he made gave him, so far as I 
know, some bones, pieces of jaws, teeth, and claws of the 
same animal, but he did not obtain more remains of the 
skin.! My assistant, Mr. Hauthal, arrived later at the 
cave, when Dr. Erland Nordenskjéld had terminated his 
researches and commenced further exploration. He 
obtained, not only skulls, jaws, teeth, bones and claws, 
but also a nearly complete skin of the animal, which 
shows that it is a Glossothertum, together 
with bones of Macrauchenia, Equus, and 
Auchenia, also a great quantity of dung, 
hay cut by man, ashes, and some bones 
worked by man. I am not yet sure if the 
bones of man discovered by Mr. Hauthal 
were found in the same cave or in one of 
those in its neighbourhood ; but the pre- 
sence in the G/ossotherium deposit of bones 
worked by man is a proof that man and 
other mammals, whose remains have been 
discovered in the cave, were contem- 
porary. I suggest that the skin has been 
preserved by man for bedding. In the 
caves inhabited by ancient man in Pata- 
gonia I have seen cut hay, and probably this also was 
used for beds. 
I expect to receive in a few days all these specimens 
at the same time as those of the A/zo/ania, together with 
reports on the discoveries, and | think they will arrive 
in time for me to exhibit these remains at the meeting of 
the British Association at Dover. 
The discovery made by Mr. Roth of some advanced 
Mammalia in the beds that contain dinosaurians, and 
Mr. Hauthal’s discovery of remains of extinct vertebrates 
and other mammals in the caves of Southern Patagonia, 
associated with Macrauchenia, Equus, Auchenia, and 
man, are proofs of the very recent changes in the 
physical geography of Patagonia, and afford most 
I OER eek 
wile ar a re 
Fic. 2 —Reproduction of a photograph of the front view of skull, with 
the lower jaw, of MWyolania. obtained in 1899, from Patagonia, by Mr. 
Santiago Roth, of the La Plata Museum, Argentine Republic (greatly 
reduced in size). 
interesting problems, which can only be solved by a 
systematic examination of the Argentine country by 
experienced geologists. In the course of my paper on 
Patagonia, read before the Royal Geographical Society 
(May 29), I proposed that this Society, the Royal Society, 
and the British Museum, with other scientific institutions, 
should proceed to carry out. these necessary investi- 
gations. These problems are not extraneous to the ex- 
plorations which may be carried out by an Antarctic 
1 “*E. Nordenskjéld, Neue Untersuchungen jiber Neosylodon listat, 
Zool. Anzeiger,” vol. xxii. (1899) pp. 335-336. 
