Notice of tioo New Fossil Blammals. 141 



Art. XII. — Notice of two New Fossil Mammals from Bruns- 

 wick Canal, Georgia ; with observations o?i some of the fossil 

 quadrupeds of the United States ; by R. Harlan, M. D. 



Under the head Megatherid^, in the Penny Cyclopasdia, Vol. 

 15, there is an exceedingly interesting description of the fossil 

 animals included under this family, by Professor Owen of Lon- 

 don. This distinguished naturalist admits five genera, viz. Me- 

 gatherium, Megalonyx, Glossotherium, Mylodon and Scelidothe- 

 rium; to which might be now added the " Orycterotherium" 

 recently described by me in the Transactions of the American 

 Philosophical Society, In this paper Mr. O. has constructed a 

 new genus under the name of "Mylodon," from my description 

 of the Megalonyx laqueatus, (vid. Med, and Phys. Researches,) 

 together with an inferior jaw of another species obtained by Dr. 

 Darwin, in South America; the former he names Mylodon Har- 

 lani, the latter Mylodon Darwinii. We have no objections to 

 the construction of a new genus of the M. laqueatus, although 

 we think there are scarcely sufficient data for the change under 

 our existing knowledge of the remains of this extinct animal ; — ■ 

 as no new light has been added to its structure since the descrip- 

 tion of the animal in the Medical and Physical Researches, 1835; 

 from which we extract the following remarks: — "It possesses 

 peculiarities of organic structure which certainly entitle it to the 

 rank of a distinct species ; indeed a minute examination of the 

 tooth and knee-joint, render it not improbable, that if the whole 

 frame should hereafter be discovered, it may even claim a generic 

 distinction ; in which case, either Aulaxodon or Pleurodon would 

 not be an inappropriate term ; referring to the ribbed or fluted 

 form of the mesial aspect of the tooth." p. 330, 



Mr. Owen has also made this extract from my paper, when 

 making the new genus, and without adopting my generic name, 

 which is very applicable, — changes the name altogether to My- 

 lodon Harlani. The Greek (Wi^^«t, dentes molares, conveys no 

 distinctive character whatever as applied to this animal ; the 

 English of Mylodon is " molar teeth, tooth," and is equally ap- 

 plicable to any fossil mammal with which we are acquainted. 

 Pleurodon, on the contrary, would apply to this and to all of the 

 species described under the name of Megalonyx Jefersonii, M. 



