FOSSIL FAUNA. 165 



PLATE LXXIII. 



Megatherium and Fossil Beabs. 



Fig. 1, is a sketch, on a veiy small scale, of the skeleton of a colossal extinct animal of the 

 Sloth tribe, discovered in the alluvial deposits of the Pampas, and preserved in 

 the museum at Madrid. A plaster model of a skeleton, restored from the 

 remains of various individuals, dispersed in different collections, is just completed, 

 and exhibited to the public in the Gallery of Organic Remains of the British 

 Museum.' This extinct animal is named the Megatherium {gigantic wild animal) 

 Cuvieri. It was seven feet high, and nine long, and therefore larger than the 

 largest rhinoceros. It possessed no incisor teeth ; and the grinders, which are 

 seven inches long, are of a prismatic form, and like those of the sloths, are 

 composed of dentine and cement. They are so formed that the crown always 

 presents two cutting, wedge-shaped, salient angles; they are therefore admirably 

 adapted for cutting and bruising vegetable substances. The entire fore-foot is 

 about a yard in length, and armed with strong claws. The Megatherium held 

 an intermediate place between the sloths, armadillos, and ant-eaters. The celebrated 

 specimens of different parts of the skeleton of this colossal creature, preserved in 

 the Hunterian Museum of the College of Surgeons of England, were collected 

 and presented by Sir Woodbine Parish. 



Fig. 2. Tlie hindmost grinder of the upper jaw of the Fossil Bear {Ursus spelceus) of the 

 Caverns, from Gaylenreuth.^ 



Fig. 3. The middle upper grinder. 



Fig. 4. The foremost upper grinder. 



Fig. 5. The hindmost grinder of the lower jaw. 



Fig. 6. The penultimate grinder of the lower jaw. 



Fig. 7. The antepenultimate lower grinder. 



Fig. 8. The foremost lower grinder. 



Fig. 9. The canine tooth of the Fossil Bear. 



' See Wonders of Geology, pp. 164 — 167. ' Ibid. vol. i. p. 176 



